Skip to main content

I-73/I-74 in NC: Year in Review 2014

Here's another end-of-the-year summary of the progress made in completing I-73 and I-74 in North Carolina. While 2014 did not see the amount of projects completed as was the case in 2013, there was a significant milestone for I-74 and the start of additional projects for both routes which shall add to their total mileage in the years ahead.

A. I-73
It was hard to top the increase in mileage the completion of signage projects in 2013 did for I-73. The route went from being signed as an interstate for 46 miles at the end of 2012 to 77 miles at the end of 2013, an increase of 40%. The route was now officially signed from I-40 in Greensboro to south of Ellerbe. Here's the Begin signage in the background of a photo of the new signage for the US 220 interchange, Exit 25, courtesy of Mark Clifton:


And here's a closer view of the Begin signage itself:

On the other side there is the End signage, photo courtesy of Chris Curley:

There were no projects completed for I-73 in 2014. There were, though, two new projects started at both ends of the current route. At the southern end, at the end of February, work started on the first project of 3 projects to build an I-73/I-74 bypass of Rockingham. The first phase is the $49.8 million upgrading of current US 220 from Exit 25 in Ellerbe 3.7 miles south to where the new Bypass will be built. As of the end of November, the project was about 20% complete, with an estimated completion date of October 2017. The next two projects were to start in 2019, however, under the new NCDOT process of determining which construction projects are to be financed over the next 10 years, starting in July 2015, the remainder of the Bypass did not receive high enough scores to be included. Therefore, at the current time, it does not appear construction to complete the Bypass will start until at least 2026.

At the northern end, work started in May on the $176.6 million project to extend I-73 from the PTI Airport interchange on Bryan Blvd. west to NC 68 then north 9.4 miles to US 220 near the Haw River. This is a design-build contract awarded to a joint venture of Flat Iron Contractors and Blythe Development Co., partially on the assurance the work could be completed by April 2017. As of the end of November, this project is about 15% complete. The northern end will tie into US 220 currently being upgraded to interstate standards north for about 4 miles from the Haw River to NC 68. This project has been ongoing since May 2012, and has fallen significantly behind, partly due to the decision by NCDOT to revise its plans for the northern interchange with NC 68 from one with traffic signals to one with a flyover ramp for I-73 South traffic. Despite it being, as of December 15, only 43% complete (vs. a projected 68%), the estimated completion date for the project is still listed as December 2016. Though I do not have any photos of these projects, you can view what the US 220 construction looked like back in April by accessing Google's Street View images starting at the construction of the future US 220/I-73 interchange. According to AARoads Forum member Strider, as of last week, drivers were now using the newly completed US 220 South flyover to cross over the future I-73 roadbed still under construction. He said most of the progress was at the southern end of the project.

B. I-74
Unlike I-73, I-74 saw the completion of a project in 2014 that extended it westward about 10 miles into Forsyth County, though this turned out to be the result of mistake communication. During the summer, new I-74 signs were put up along US 311 between High Point (Exit 65) and I-40 reflecting the approval of the route by the FHWA in the fall of 2013. Plus new overhead signs touting the new I-74/US 311 designation were put up along I-40, plus, temporarily before the overheads went up, a lone East I-74 trailblazer at the US 311 exit eastbound in June, photo courtesy of J. Austin Carter:
The signage upgrade was largely completed by August. A month later, the Winston-Salem news media reported the signing of I-74 was a mistake caused by a mix up between NCDOT and the FHWA over language in the correspondence between the two agencies as to whether the US 311 freeway was up to interstate standards. Even though US 311 was substandard and shouldn't have been allowed to be signed as I-74, the FHWA admitted it made the mistake, and so the I-74 signage could remain, though NCDOT had to promise to upgrade the freeway to interstate standards in the future.

The other major news surrounding I-74 in 2014 was the start of construction on the long planned, and long delayed, Winston-Salem Northern Beltway. Not only did construction start on the first segment, 4 miles from Business 40/US 421/NC 150 to US 158, in December, with a total cost of $154 million, to be completed in April 2019, but NCDOT approved moneys from three other segments that will extend I-74 from the US 311 freeway across I-40 and northwest to US 311 /Walkertown Road by 2025. Here's some of the planned signage for the Beltway on Business 40:
As can be seen, NCDOT will sign the Loop as NC 74 until the Loop at least ties into the existing I-74/US 311 freeway. Here's some signage plans for the Loop itself:
Again, future signage on top is for when the Loop is completed back to I-74/US 311. As for the remaining segments needed to take I-74 to US 52, these are not funded at this time, and so construction cannot start until after 2025. The other I-74 project under construction is the Rockingham Bypass discussed earlier.

C. What's Ahead for 2015
Next year will be the first in several years which will see no I-73 or I-74 project starts or completions. The Draft STIP with the projects funded and not funded discussed above is due out in final form in July. There, perhaps, may be changes in the fortunes of some of the unfunded projects. NCDOT has a feasibility study underway on whether to upgrade US 74 between the current end of I-74 at NC 41 near Lumberton to the US 74-76 Bypass Freeway around Whiteville. Also, they are studying, at the behest of officials in Charlotte and cities further western along the US 74 corridor, the feasibility of upgrading all of US 74 east of I-26 to Wilmington to interstate standards. If either of these projects get a green light, there may be more resources available to complete some of the I-73 and I-74 projects in the southeastern part of the state in the years ahead.

I will post any news and updates to my I-73/I-74 in NC Progress page, and, perhaps, I will be able to take a trip down to North Carolina to check things out in person. As always, feel free to forward any photos or news you may hear to me, it's greatly appreciated.

Comments

Chris Miller said…
thanks for the update!
kdub1 said…
I've thought that for the longest time that NCDOT should have placed "Temporary 74" shields on the stretch of 311/40/52 between each end of the Northern Beltway like it did with 85 until the Interstate could be built between Exits 87 & 118.

Popular posts from this blog

Chowchilla Mountain Road to Yosemite National Park

Chowchilla Mountain Road of Mariposa County is one of the oldest roadways servicing Yosemite National Park.  As presently configured this fourteen-mile highway begins at California State Route 49 near Elliot Corner and terminates at the Wawona Road in Yosemite National Park.  Chowchilla Mountain Road was constructed as a franchise toll road over Battalion Pass circa 1869-1870.  The highway was built at behest of Galen Clark to connect the town of Mariposa to his property near the South Fork Merced River at what is now Wawona.   In late 1874 the highway along with Clark’s Station would be purchased by the Washburn Brothers.  The Washburn Brothers would continue to toll Chowchilla Mountain Road as part of their Yosemite Stage Route lines.  The highway would ultimately become a Mariposa County public highway in 1917.  Mariposa would later be more directly linked with Yosemite Valley in 1926 following the completion of the Yosemite All-Year Highwa...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

Angus L. Macdonald Bridge

At 1.3 kilometers (or about 0.84 miles) in length, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is one of two bridges crossing over the Halifax Harbour between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with the other bridge being the A. Murray Mackay Bridge . Opened in 1955 and named after former Nova Scotia Premier and Canadian Minister of Defense for Naval Services Angus L. Macdonald, the Macdonald Bridge was the first bridge that crossed Halifax Harbour that was opened to traffic. The Macdonald Bridge was also the subject of the Big Lift, which was only the second time in history that the span of a suspension bridge were replaced while the bridge was open to traffic. Planning began in 2010 for the Big Lift, while construction took place between 2015 and 2017. Similar work occurred on the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia before the project took place on the Macdonald Bridge. At this time, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and...