The extend I-20 to Wilmington, NC proposal

[CanesFan27]

It all started earlier this decade when then NC Governor Mike Easily made this proposal.  SCDOT didn't like the idea...why extend an Interstate through their state when it will solely benefit another.

Well, it seemed dead - but a simple Q&A article in the Wilmington Star News sheds new light on the proposal.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20091005/ARTICLES/910054003/1004?Title=MyReporter-Nesbitt-Courts-will-be-sold-or-demolished

Bob Malme - who received the article from a reader - posts more detail and commentary here:
http://surewhynotnow.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-20-to-wilmington-idea-being-revived.html

[Chris]

Looks like a good idea. SC should be a little less selfish, if all states thought that way back in the 60's, half of the interstate system wouldn't exist...

[leifvanderwall]

I think its a good idea because it will give Wilmington a second hurricane route.

[florida]

It would give Myrtle Beach a semi-interstate connection until I-74 comes through to pick up the pieces.

[SP Cook]

Can NC not understand how the interstate system is supposed to work?

[City]

It seems pretty weird that Interstate 40 and 20 would meet up. That's against the interstate numbering grid.  It'd be a roadgeek's delicacy, though. 

I'm in for it. Like leifvanderwall said, it'd give Wilmington a second choice for hurricane evacuation. Oh, and it'd make I-20 feel more like a coast-to-coast interstate. (They need to extend I-20 from Texas to California, but that's for another topic.)

[agentsteel53]

It seems pretty weird that Interstate 40 and 20 would meet up. That's against the interstate numbering grid.  It'd be a roadgeek's delicacy, though. 

I'm in for it. Like leifvanderwall said, it'd give Wilmington a second choice for hurricane evacuation. Oh, and it'd make I-20 feel more like a coast-to-coast interstate. (They need to extend I-20 from Texas to California, but that's for another topic.)

well, since there are no routes between 20 and 40 that far east, having 20 and 40 meet would be perfectly sensible. 

also, where would I-20 go?  US-380 to I-25, then US-60 to Phoenix, then AZ-72 to CA-62? 

[xonhulu]

It's I-40's abrupt southward turn in NC which makes the I-20/40 meeting possible.  Extending I-20 to Wilmington is much more logical than extending I-40 there was in the first place.

As far as extending I-20 west: I could maybe see an interstate connecting Dallas to Phoenix via Lubbock, but putting I-20 on that would require a new number for the existing I-20 down to Davis Mtn Jct.  It would make more sense for I-20 to keep its current route and extend I-30 over the new interstate.  However, I'm sure traffic demands don't come close to justifying a new freeway along that route.  Other than that, I don't see any logical route for extending I-20 west of Texas, and definitely not all the way to CA.  Between I-8, I-10 and I-40, there are already enough interstates connecting AZ and CA. 

[CanesFan27]

Wilmington has quite a few evacuation routes...Though I-40 is the only one with reversible lanes.

The completely 4-lane and continually upgrading of US 74 is very feasible...and you all are making Wilmington out to be a larger city than it is.  The metro area is only 350,000 people.  The main reason for this proposal is to attract more ship traffic into the Port of Wilmington. If there is "a direct (one number route) interstate connection" from Wilmington to Atlanta, they hope it will attract more vessels into the port.  (That's how I-40 was eventually moved to end at I-95 in Smithfield in the early 70s to Wilmington at the end of the decade, and also why US 117 was extended to end at the port earlier this decade.)

This is also why there is a group trying to promote making US 70 a freeway in its entirety from Raleigh to Morehead City to attract more business to the Port of Morehead City. (which in the 70s there was debate on where to extend I-40 to Morehead or Wilmington).

Plus, I-20 would not hit I-40 unless it was moved onto I-140.

Personally my choice, as I said in seroads, would be extend I-20 northwards along I-95 to around Exit 170 (SC 327) then have it run to meet I-73 between Marion and Mullins. 

I do think that in the end this will end up with I-74 running to Wilmington vs. North Myrtle Beach, and I-20 not budging at all.  SC is putting it's entire resources into I-73 - the overall impact of that route is greater in South Carolina's mind than extending I-20.   When I-73 is finished, then yes I think South Carolina will try to extend I-20 to at least I-73.

[RoadWarrior56]

I hate to sound cynical, but few of us will live long enough to see any of these interstates extended and completed, no matter what the relative merits may be.  There is little money out there for them, nothwithstanding the years that would be tied up in the endless and ever more convoluted NEPA process.  We are probably looking at 20 to 40 years to extend these roadways at best, and if they actually were constructed, they would probably be tolled at a rate to where many of us would not bother to pay it, at least I wouldn't.

It is amazing that you look back from today's vantage point that the original interstate system was mostly completed within a 20 year period.

I am a cynic, partially because I am an engineer and work in transportation.  I lived this frustration each and every working day.

[Alps]

It is amazing that you look back from today's vantage point that the original interstate system was mostly completed within a 20 year period.

And free.  It was a lot easier without the EPA up our butts and Alternatives Analysis, Feasibility Assessment, etc.  Back then it was, "We need a road.  It needs to go here.  Buy these buildings for the minimum possible and put a road here."

[agentsteel53]

Feasibility Assessment, etc. 

"we built it.  guess it was feasible."