Made good progress in going through the backlog for North Carolina over the course of August thus far. Finally posted the last of the photos covering North Carolina Interstates, and finished going through everything covered statewide east of I-95, and east of I-77 with the exception to U.S. 421 through Lillington. That leaves just U.S. and State Route coverage in the Appalachians, at Asheville and at Hickory to go through for future updates.

Also started a Minnesota section with coverage of every exit along Interstate 90 eastbound from South Dakota to La Crosse, Wisconsin. This included photos shot back in February, just before COVID19 took over throughout most of the country. Who knew right?

There are several thousand more photos throughout the North Star State covering the Interstate highway system and other freeways throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area in our queue.

 

Interstate 26 – completed coverage in both directions from Downtown Asheville to Sams Gap from a trip in October 2015. Added four photos Carter took last month along I-26 west at NC 108 and U.S. 74. Direct ramps were built last year between I-26 and the U.S. 74 freeway on the north side of Columbus, eliminating the need to use ramps for NC 108 to complete the connection.

The rest of the I-26 coverage between East Flat Rock / Hendersonville and Asheville is out of date, and furthermore this stretch of the route is under construction as of last Fall. A five year widening project is underway along 16.9 miles of the freeway from the merge with U.S. 25 north at East Flat Rock to NC 191 (Brevard Road) in south Asheville. I-26 will be expanded from four to six lanes along the concurrent section with U.S. 25 around Hendersonville and from four to eight lanes from U.S. 25/25 Business northward to I-40/240.

I-26/US 64 Interchange Redesign - Hendersonville, NC

Modifications to the cloverleaf interchange joining I-26/U.S. 25-74 to U.S. 64 in Hendersonville includes eliminating the loop entrance ramps and added extended left turn lanes to expanded ramps joining U.S. 64 with Interstate 26.

I-26/US 25 Interchange Design - Fletcher, NC

The diamond interchange where U.S. 25 ties into I-26/U.S. 74 from Fletcher to the north and U.S. 25 Business from Mount Home to the south will be converted to a DDI.

Further north in Asheville, the long planned I-26 Connector will finally start construction next year. Bypassing the substandard Captain Jeff Brown Bridge across the French Broad River and the antiquated directional T interchange joining I-240 with Future I-26/U.S. 19-23-70 outside Downtown Asheville. Split into three sections, work will upgrade all of I-26/240 from I-40/U.S. 74 northeast to U.S. 19-23-74A along Patton Avenue. A new alignment for I-26/240 will be constructed northward in an arc from Patton Avenue across the French Broad River to I-240/U.S. 70-74A on the north side of Downtown.

I-26/240 Connector - Asheville, NC

The new alignment for I-26/240 will run alongside Westgate Shopping Center and across the existing freeway just east of the trumpet interchange with U.S. 19-23-74A along Patton Avenue. The Caption Jeff Brown Bridge will be repurposed for local traffic and include provisions for bicyclists and pedestrians.

I-26/240 Connector - Asheville, NC

A three wye interchange spread across the French Broad River joining I-26/240 to the north. Future I-26/U.S. 19-23-70 will be upgraded northward as well.

Interstate 77 – split the outdated pages into four sections covering both directions.  Added photos from January and May of last year, and all from a trip in September 2014 that were never added. Just missed getting coverage of the I-77 Express Lanes, which opened  from north of I-485 at Huntersville to NC 150 at Mooresville on June 1, 2019, and from I-485 south to I-277 in Charlotte on November 16, 2019.

Another ongoing project is the redesign of the cloverleaf interchange joining I-77 with I-40 at Statesville. Initial work at this exchange started back in 2012 and was completed in 2017. Construction completing the partial turbine interchange and widening along I-77 finally got underway last year. The $260 million project runs through the end of 2022.

I-40/77 partial turbine interchange - Statesville, NC

The ultimate design of the partial turbine interchange joining I-40/77 at Statesville. A single loop ramp will remain from I-77 south to I-40 east.

Other North Carolina pages added or updated:

  • Interstate 40 – finished adding photos covering eastbound from the Tennessee line to the Asheville area from 01/16/19 and posted new pages covering both directions between Asheville and Hickory from October 2015. Also updated I-40 eastbound across Greensboro.
  • Future Interstate 42 – created page.
  • Interstate 74 – updated the westbound page covering the Mt. Airy bypass, and updated coverage of U.S. 52/Future I-74 from Winston-Salem north to Mt. Airy.
  • Interstate 240 – updated with photos taken 01/16/19 along eastbound through Asheville.
  • Business Loop I-40 – added photos covering the former Business 40 eastbound from Winston-Salem to Kernersville from 12/15/16.
  • U.S. 13 – added pages covering northbound from Greenville to the VA line and southbound photos at Bethel.
  • U.S. 17 – added pages covering southbound from VA to Hertford and Washington to Jacksonville and northbound from Williamston to VA.
  • U.S. 29 – added page for U.S. 29/74 east from Belmont to Charlotte and photos from 12/15/16 showing the recently removed interchange where U.S. 29 splits with NC 152 at China Grove.
  • U.S. 52 – replaced photos northbound through Winston-Salem.
  • U.S. 70 – added photos from December 2017 at Goldsboro and westbound through New Bern.
  • U.S. 74 – updated with photos Carter shot eastbound through Polk County last month.
  • U.S. 264 – added page covering westbound from Pantego to Washington.
  • U.S. 301 – split coverage and added northbound photos from Wade to Benson and at Kenly. Southbound photos added at Garysburg, Kenly and from St. Pauls to Lumberton.
  • U.S. 521 – added photos covering the north end from 05/21/19 and a map scan from 1973.
  • Created pages for U.S. 17 Business routes at Maysville, Pollocksville and Washington. The business route through Maysville and the extension of the route south from New Bern to Pollocksville were created in 2019 with completion of the U.S. 17 freeway bypassing both towns to the west.
  • Charlotte City Route 4 – created page on Charlotte’s original belt line, which was numbered 4 because it runs approximately four miles from Uptown.
  • Added a number of state route pages for NC 37, 45, 55, 58, 78, 82, 99, 152, 186, 222, 273, 581 and Virginia Route 186.