US 74 in Shelby NC

[bud121156]

Lines are painted near the 18 overpass.

[ARMOURERERIC]

Lines are painted near the 18 overpass.

All of them, or just the dash down the middle?

[bud121156]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V54DnrWIWidQh6j6yoBQyjG_rTvzqDqf/view?usp=sharing

[bud121156]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V8Kl-7NxNzMgyMsfbRmsDTa2sb1WfCla/view?usp=sharing

[bud121156]

Paving equipment set off Friday.  Maybe getting ready to put the top layer on 18?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WCq69X4fPHQlxf7Xad6rAdIEubLy_cGI/view?usp=drive_link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WA6BHIzfVJjPwQ7MisZIJJWtNvMVeizz/view?usp=drive_link

[bud121156]

Paving on and around the Highway 18 bridge  going on this week.  Traffic backed up all directions.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

Section C is slowly nearing completion. Per the NCDOT Construction Progress Report, the revised completion date is 1/23/2025.







Ongoing work on N.C. 18 at the interchange.


Eastbound off-ramp to N.C. 18.


The N.C. 150 interchange is further along, but still requires final pavement markings and signs.




Construction on Section D has expanded between N.C. 150 and the U.S. 74 interchange. So far, no major work other than utility relocation has occurred within the limits of Section E to the east of Buffalo Creek.

Updated satellite imagery from 11/20/2024 is available in Google Earth showing construction progress, but it has not made its way into Google Maps yet.

Looking east at the Fairview Road overpass and approach.


Looking south (eastbound) from Fairview Road.


Construction is starting on the Elizabeth Avenue overpass.


Looking north (westbound) from Elizabeth Avenue.


Looking south (eastbound) from Borders Road.


There has been some additional clearing at the future U.S. 74 interchange. New bridge construction will take place on the outside of the existing bridges before widening towards the median once the old bridges are demolished.

[ARMOURERERIC]

Google maps show updated imagery for the Shelby bypass, i'd guess less than 60 days old.

[sprjus4]

Google maps show updated imagery for the Shelby bypass, i'd guess less than 60 days old.

Google Earth shows November 2024.

[The Ghostbuster]

Google Maps Satellite View still doesn't show any construction between Elizabeth Ave. and Borders Rd. However, I appreciate the update.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

The revised completion date of 1/23/2025 has now passed for Section C between N.C. 226 and N.C. 150, and reported progress is at 92.29%. Construction is approaching eight years for this segment that totals less than five miles.

The N.C. 150 interchange appears to be substantially complete. The Airport Rd. overpass is still not open. Work is STILL ongoing at the N.C. 18 interchange. Traffic signals are up, concrete medians are in, and it looks like the final pavement course is down and just needs markings and signs. From the overpasses, it looks like the main line is complete, with the exception of the tie-in to the currently open section. A sub-contractor was out with a measuring wheel where the existing eastbound section narrows to one lane to exit, so I'm guessing new markings will go down soon.

There isn't much new to report on Section D. There were crews at all of the overpasses under construction on a Friday, so that is a good sign. Still nothing on Section E. I am cautiously optimistic that they are prioritizing Section D to get traffic on the new bypass alignment before focusing on the Section E freeway upgrade, but I could be wrong.

To the west, work appears to be starting on the BR-0012 portion of the Mooresboro interchange project. This will replace the bridges over Sandy Run. There are a lot of survey stakes out around the intersections for Lattimore Rd. and Ellenboro Rd., but there are no shovels in the ground yet. The combined projects were let in July 2023.

[ARMOURERERIC]

Thank you for the update, i just sent you a pm about an unrelated  matter.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

The Shelby Star published a quote from a NCDOT communications officer on Friday, 2/7 that they "anticipate the R-2707C project will be open to traffic this spring."

[cowboy_wilhelm]

More clearing for the Lattimore Rd. interchange. The old Southern Railway bridge will not be replaced since the line is abandoned.

[bud121156]

The traffic lights on 18 and on Polkville Road were flashing yellow this week. Looks like it will be soon for the next section to 150 to open.

[ARMOURERERIC]

Thank you, I very much appreciate the updates.

[brian440i]

Can someone help me locate the Construction Progress for R-2707C?

1. The NC DOT Construction Progress Report does not have R-2707C Listed.  (Only the D&E Project)
https://apps.ncdot.gov/traffictravel/progloc/ProgLocSearch.aspx

2. The Normal NC DOT Project Site does not have any Reference to R-2707C;  Does not have any maps for Section A, B, C.
https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/Pages/default.aspx

It seems odd that the Project is not listed and not searchable.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

The construction progress report for R-2707C disappeared a couple of months ago. I have found that it is not a reliable source for several projects lately.

The main line of Section C has been finished for six months. They've been screwing around at the N.C. 18 interchange for a year to get the final course of pavement down. This section started construction over eight years ago and is less than five miles long.

The entire project started over twelve years ago. The overall progress is about one mile per year.

Sections B and C were both let with NO PAVING in the contracts. They graded Section B and just left it for a separate contract to finish a couple of years later. They literally planted grass instead of paving. That's how stupidly slow this project has been.

There has been little interest in Raleigh for this project to get started or finish. No one in Raleigh goes through Shelby for any reason. If Shelby was between Raleigh and the beach, it would have been bypassed 25 years ago.

The original public hearing maps from 2008 can be found on the Internet Archive since NCDOT doesn't host them anymore.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150130031014/http://www.ncdot.gov/download/projects/publichearings/R2707_phm1.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20150130031014/http://www.ncdot.gov/download/projects/publichearings/R2707_phm2.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20150130031014/http://www.ncdot.gov/download/projects/publichearings/R2707_phm3.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20150130031014/http://www.ncdot.gov/download/projects/publichearings/R2707_phm4.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20150130031014/http://www.ncdot.gov/download/projects/publichearings/R2707_phm5.pdf

[WashuOtaku]

There has been little interest in Raleigh for this project to get started or finish. No one in Raleigh goes through Shelby for any reason. If Shelby was between Raleigh and the beach, it would have been bypassed 25 years ago.

To be fair, they did create a bypass back in 1936.

[sprjus4]

And more recently, they widened / relocated US-74 as a freeway everywhere else along the corridor.

And they're actively building a Rutherfordton north-south bypass... why is that a higher priority than US-74?

[ARMOURERERIC]

I decided years ago that the major business owners along Dixon Blvd were using their influence  with the NC Speaker of the House to slow this project  down.

[bud121156]

The section from 226 to 150 that runs under Highway 18, opened today, June 16th. Can't confirm if Airport Road bridge opened too.

[ARMOURERERIC]

Thank you for the info.  In an unrelated item, I am hearing from coworkers that US 64 in Rutherfordton may have moved onto the new bridge over the new 221 bypass freeway.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

NCDOT press release.

https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2025/2025-06-16-shelby-bypass-segment-opens.aspx

[cowboy_wilhelm]

Waze shows taking Bus. 74 to 180 to 150 and the bypass (westbound) only takes 2-3 minutes longer than going straight through, and that's at 10:30 in the evening. Google and Waze will likely start rerouting drivers to the bypass during the day.