North Carolina

[74/171FAN]

NCDOT published a spreadsheet with its Final 2026-2035 STIP projects on July 9. There doesn't appear to be too much change from the earlier draft. Future interstate projects such as upgrading US 74 to I-74 between Rockingham and Laurinburg and Lumberton and Whiteville, portions of US 17 to I-87 north of Williamston, or US 117 between Goldsboro and I-40 which were listed as unfunded are still categorized that way. There are no listed projects to upgrade I-87 along US 64 except those underway except for the pavement rehab project east of Rolesville Road that may widen the shoulders and the letting of that has been delayed from Sept. to Dec. The future Kinston Bypass is listed, but only for programming purposes, no funding or date. Curiously, several US 17 projects south of Wilmington are now also listed as Future I-74, someone hasn't given up on the Myrtle Beach terminus yet (the Carolina Bays Parkway extension is also listed, but unfunded).

For those who want to peruse the document, it is available at:
https://www.ncdot.gov/initiatives-policies/Transportation/stip/Pages/stip-documents.aspx

Bob:

There hasn't been a routing change to 74, nor to my knowledge a push to move 74 to Wilmington (outside of the hobby) so I'm confused by what you mean by "someone hasn't given up on the Myrtle Beach terminus yet." When nothing has changed.

My understanding from watching Mileage Mike on this was, "there is no way NC is going to let I-74 go to SC". See 3:43.

(Bonus:  Adam, your comment was second on that video.)

Having stated that, yeah I agree that officially nothing has changed regarding the proposed routing.

[Strider]

Yeah, while nothing has been changed for I-74 route down to SC, however the majority of us feel I-74 should just go east to Wilmington and end there. Since I-73 will eventually serve Myrtle Beach (if it is ever extended and built), there is no reason I-74 should go down there.

[ARMOURERERIC]

I had the opportunity 2 weeks ago to hit the Outer Banks for the fist time, stayed in Rodanthe.  Had some road inquiries based on the trip, I was basically coming due east/west via 40 and 64 from Morganton NC.

I saw the Alligator River Bridge work, will that be 2 lanes or 4?

One of the bigger choke points I encountered both ways was the 64/264 freeway concurrency east of Raleigh.  Any widening in the future?


Going through  Columbia on 64 was also an issue, any plans for a us 64 upgrade around the town?

[The Ghostbuster]

They should build a freeway connection between the US 17/US 64/future Interstate 87 freeway at Williamston, and the US 64 freeway east of Pineridge. It seems like a missing link to me. Whether they can build such a connection is unknown, when they have so many competing transportation demands.

[sprjus4]

I saw the Alligator River Bridge work, will that be 2 lanes or 4?

The replacement is a higher level fixed-span 2 lane bridge.
https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/lindsay-warren-bridge-replacement/Pages/default.aspx

One of the bigger choke points I encountered both ways was the 64/264 freeway concurrency east of Raleigh.  Any widening in the future?

NCDOT had planned to expand it to 6 lanes out to the split in Wendell, but that project has been shelved due to lack of funding.

Going through  Columbia on 64 was also an issue, any plans for a us 64 upgrade around the town?

Not that I'm aware of. Around 20 years ago, NCDOT had a plan to widen the remainder of US-64 between Columbia and Manns Harbor to a four lane divided highway, although as far I'm aware that has also been shelved. No bypass of Columbia was planned.

They did construct a 25 mile freeway west of Columbia around 20 years ago as well, a lot of it actually upgrading existing 2 lane road (interesting they went with a full controlled access design w/ continuous frontage road as opposed to traditional 4 lane divided highway), almost hinting that they wanted a full freeway out to the Outer Banks. The widening between Columbia and Manns Harbor, though, was going to include a few at-grade intersections though, and the part between US-17 and Plymouth is only a four lane divided highway.

I'm not sure what influenced that 25 mile freeway portion in the middle.

---

As a side note, I often wonder why out-of-towners coming to the Outer Banks from the north don't use I-95 to US-64 instead of I-64 to VA/NC-168 to US-158 through Hampton Roads. I understand the route through Hampton Roads is an hour quicker (with no traffic) and more direct, but there is significantly more traffic on summer weekends with the tunnels, along VA-168 near I-64, and a lot of NC-168 through NC especially Moyock. Then there's the bottleneck of crossing the US-158 bridge into the Outer Banks, and how congested that area can be.

I almost feel that it would be just as long, if not quicker, to avoid all of that entirely and come in from the southside. Plus you avoid the $9 Chesapeake Expressway toll (which you can avoid by taking parallel VA-168 Business, but that route is another bottleneck itself during peak weekends).

[sprjus4]

They should build a freeway connection between the US 17/US 64/future Interstate 87 freeway at Williamston, and the US 64 freeway east of Pineridge. It seems like a missing link to me. Whether they can build such a connection is unknown, when they have so many competing transportation demands.

The biggest missing link is the lack of a four lane divided highway between Columbia and Manns Harbor.

[Dirt Roads]

As a side note, I often wonder why out-of-towners coming to the Outer Banks from the north don't use I-95 to US-64 instead of I-64 to VA/NC-168 to US-158 through Hampton Roads. I understand the route through Hampton Roads is an hour quicker (with no traffic) and more direct, but there is significantly more traffic on summer weekends with the tunnels, along VA-168 near I-64, and a lot of NC-168 through NC especially Moyock. Then there's the bottleneck of crossing the US-158 bridge into the Outer Banks, and how congested that area can be.

I almost feel that it would be just as long, if not quicker, to avoid all of that entirely and come in from the southside. Plus you avoid the $9 Chesapeake Expressway toll (which you can avoid by taking parallel VA-168 Business, but that route is another bottleneck itself during peak weekends).

At the times that most folks hit the shore on summer vacations, it's going to take a good 5 hours or more to get from Fredericksburg -to- Nags Head if you go through Tidewater.  You can certainly cut a few minutes off of that if you trek down US-460 from Petersburg.  But I always preferred VA-35 from Templeton -to- Courtland and then there are several tricks to get to Nags Head (including a fast route on back roads to pick up NC-37 and head down to US-64).  All four of these routes run about 4-1/2 hours to the Outer Banks when the beach traffic is light on the south end (and the US-64 run is always lighter when there is heavy traffic).

[Walnut2]

Saw today that a bunch of the original button-copy signs along the U.S. 1 freeway between exits 71 and 79 have been replaced. On previous occasions I've traveled that route within the past couple of years, most of the button-copy was intact except all but one gore sign (exit 76 southbound) had been replaced. Some original signs still remain (including that gore sign), but it looks like it's time for anyone interested to get your photos of them if you haven't already.

[wdcrft63]

They should build a freeway connection between the US 17/US 64/future Interstate 87 freeway at Williamston, and the US 64 freeway east of Pineridge. It seems like a missing link to me. Whether they can build such a connection is unknown, when they have so many competing transportation demands.

The biggest missing link is the lack of a four lane divided highway between Columbia and Manns Harbor.

Marc Basnight, the leader of the NC Senate from 1993 to 2011, was from Manteo. He pushed hard for improvements to US 64. After he stepped down in 2011 due to health issues the priority for US 64 sank immediately. He needed another term or two to get the four lane to Manns Harbor.

[brian440i]

Just a Note on the New Aligator Bridge, though Not 4 Lanes, the $450 Million Project does include significant breakdown lanes compared to the current no existant shoulders.

"The new bridge will replace the existing swing-span bridge with a modern two-lane, fixed-span, high-rise bridge on a new location just north of the current structure. The 3.2-mi.-long bridge also will include two 12-ft. travel lanes with 8-ft. breakdown lanes."

And the Columbia to Alligator River is to be "Modernized" in the Latest STIP whatever that means... Though I assume Shoulders... Better GuardRails between Road and Canal... and maybe a turn lane occasionally.

Only on Sundays with the Vacationers leaving in their RVs or going to beach for week is this any problem....  (Though dodging bear running across road has been my bigget issue the last two trips)

PS
Missed this Federal Grant, which hopefully helps with the Bear Problem.
"$25 million to install wildlife crossings on U.S. 64 in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge."