Terry Sanford's 1964 North Carolina Interstate 13 Proposal

In October 2014, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory announced that he supported a plan to build an interstate highway from Raleigh to Norfolk. Basically this would follow US 64 from Raleigh to US 17 in Williamston and follow 17 north into the Tidewater region. NCDOT last year took somewhat of a first step when they petitioned and was granted the Interstate 495 designation from I-440 in Raleigh to I-95 in Rocky Mount. This hopeful interstate corridor has been promoted by the Raleigh Regional Transportation Alliance for sometime as "Interstate 44".

But this isn't the first North Carolina to Norfolk interstate proposal. Researching a long time ago on another item, I came across an article from the Wilmington Star-News that dates back to 1964. Titled, "Sanford Backs New Road Plan," the story talks about then Governor Terry Sanford's endorsement of an interstate corridor from Norfolk to Interstate 95 in Fayetteville. This corridor which pretty much followed US 17 to Williamston and US 13 from Bethel to Fayetteville was proposed by NC State Senator Robert L. Humber of Pitt County. Humber stated that it would be named Interstate 13. The article continues to state that the Division of Highways chairman, Merrill Evans said that he had not endorsed any proposal for a north-south interstate in Eastern North Carolina.

It appears that this one article documented both the birth and death of the Interstate 13 idea in North Carolina.

So was this a good idea, the route basically would have given a direct link from Norfolk to Interstate 95. This possibly could have resulted in larger port in Norfolk and having a negative impact on both of North Carolina's ports in Morehead City and Wilmington. Militarily, it would have linked the numerous military installments around the Hampton Roads Area to Fort Bragg.

Also, would this be a good idea today? Feel free to comment below

Comments

WashuOtaku said…

This is similar to the defunct I-99 that was proposed along the US 17 corridor from South Carolina to Maryland. It's a nice idea, but not needed.

4:00 PM

Anonymous said…

I like the idea of extending the route through Raleigh and down the US 1 freeway, then southwest towards Charlotte. Maybe even continue west to Asheville from there.

10:17 PM

Anonymous said…

Why is there no interstate from Wilmington to Charlotte (to Asheville)??

This seems inexplicable to me.

4:42 PM

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