Denied before, North Carolina again sent their request to add an Interstate designation to a stretch of U.S. 264 and U.S. 117 between Wilson and Goldsboro at the recent AASHTO Annual Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This time, the application was approved. Among the benefits of a new Interstate for Goldsboro, North Carolina, the designation allows trucks exceeding 48 feet in length to legally drive the U.S. 117 freeway between the city and U.S. 264 at Wilson. Previously, police were ticketing truckers traveling the route between U.S. 70 and Interstate 40, hampering local trucking companies and other businesses in the process. As of Monday October 8, 2007, that restriction will no longer be levied on the route.
Interstate 95 northbound at the new northern terminus of Interstate 795 south (east). A cloverleaf interchange with collector/distributor roadways joins the two freeways.
Interstate 795 signs will follow soon there after along the U.S. 264 Wilson bypass between Interstate 95 Exit 119 and the U.S. 117 freeway situated between Exits 42 and 43. A wye interchange joins the U.S. 264 east with U.S. 117 south, where Interstate 795 will turn south along the new freeway to U.S. 70 at Goldsboro. Essentially U.S. 117 is now obsolete north of the U.S. 70 Goldsboro bypass, though it remains to be seen whether or not the highway will see truncation.
Source:
“U.S. 117 gets OK to allow truck.,” Goldsboro News-Argus, October 2, 2007.
