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[bob7374]

News article indicates new segment of I-73 from PTI Airport to US 220 near the Haw River should be open by the end of this year: http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2016/01/25/new-leg-of-i-73-in-triad-to-open-this-year.html

This is a surprise. The NCDOT web site lists the project as slightly ahead of schedule (that's good) but the projected completion date is October 2017, not 2016. Is this a statement that the section between US 220 and NC 68 would open a year sooner?

Based on the article, the PTI Airport taxiway won't be completed until later in 2017 and so the completion date cited must be for that part of the project, not the roadway. It is possible though, that they could open the NC 68 and US 220 segment before the rest if there's some delay in the Bryan Blvd. area (though they probably couldn't sign it as I-73 until the rest of the highway opens).

Maybe they are trying to finish building I-73 itself and when it opens, drivers can use it while they are working on the taxiway bridge over the new interstate. Who knows. Either way, I am glad it is almost done. NC 68 traffic has been a nightmare. I plan on checking out the construction sometime this weekend and see if there are some progress going on.

Here's an illustration of the taxiway bridge I found on the contractor's website:

[ReeseFerlautoI74/85]

News article indicates new segment of I-73 from PTI Airport to US 220 near the Haw River should be open by the end of this year: http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2016/01/25/new-leg-of-i-73-in-triad-to-open-this-year.html

This is a surprise. The NCDOT web site lists the project as slightly ahead of schedule (that's good) but the projected completion date is October 2017, not 2016. Is this a statement that the section between US 220 and NC 68 would open a year sooner?

Based on the article, the PTI Airport taxiway won't be completed until later in 2017 and so the completion date cited must be for that part of the project, not the roadway. It is possible though, that they could open the NC 68 and US 220 segment before the rest if there's some delay in the Bryan Blvd. area (though they probably couldn't sign it as I-73 until the rest of the highway opens).

Maybe they are trying to finish building I-73 itself and when it opens, drivers can use it while they are working on the taxiway bridge over the new interstate. Who knows. Either way, I am glad it is almost done. NC 68 traffic has been a nightmare. I plan on checking out the construction sometime this weekend and see if there are some progress going on.

Here's an illustration of the taxiway bridge I found on the contractor's website:

Different kind of bridge!

SM-G360T1

[bob7374]

Checking through the latest version of NCDOT's 2016-2025 STIP (available at: https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/planning/STIPDocuments1/LIVE_STIP.pdf )
I found that the entry for the I-73/I-74 Rockingham Bypass has been revised. Construction of Part 2 of the project, the actual bypass from US 220 to US 74, is now funded with construction is to start in 2022. With this project now funded along with the project to upgrade of US 74 between Rockingham and Laurinburg, also to start in 2022, I-73 should be signed from Greensboro to Rockingham and I-74 from High Point to Laurinburg by 2025.

[Henry]

News article indicates new segment of I-73 from PTI Airport to US 220 near the Haw River should be open by the end of this year: http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2016/01/25/new-leg-of-i-73-in-triad-to-open-this-year.html

This is a surprise. The NCDOT web site lists the project as slightly ahead of schedule (that's good) but the projected completion date is October 2017, not 2016. Is this a statement that the section between US 220 and NC 68 would open a year sooner?

Based on the article, the PTI Airport taxiway won't be completed until later in 2017 and so the completion date cited must be for that part of the project, not the roadway. It is possible though, that they could open the NC 68 and US 220 segment before the rest if there's some delay in the Bryan Blvd. area (though they probably couldn't sign it as I-73 until the rest of the highway opens).

Maybe they are trying to finish building I-73 itself and when it opens, drivers can use it while they are working on the taxiway bridge over the new interstate. Who knows. Either way, I am glad it is almost done. NC 68 traffic has been a nightmare. I plan on checking out the construction sometime this weekend and see if there are some progress going on.

Here's an illustration of the taxiway bridge I found on the contractor's website:

Different kind of bridge!

SM-G360T1

Doesn't something similar to that already exist in Atlanta?

[clong]

Yes, I-285 between exits 59 and 60.

[ReeseFerlautoI74/85]

Checking through the latest version of NCDOT's 2016-2025 STIP (available at: https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/planning/STIPDocuments1/LIVE_STIP.pdf )
I found that the entry for the I-73/I-74 Rockingham Bypass has been revised. Construction of Part 2 of the project, the actual bypass from US 220 to US 74, is now funded with construction is to start in 2022. With this project now funded along with the project to upgrade of US 74 between Rockingham and Laurinburg, also to start in 2022, I-73 should be signed from Greensboro to Rockingham and I-74 from High Point to Laurinburg by 2025.

2022? Dang that's long

SM-G360T1

[I94RoadRunner]

Checking through the latest version of NCDOT's 2016-2025 STIP (available at: https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/planning/STIPDocuments1/LIVE_STIP.pdf )
I found that the entry for the I-73/I-74 Rockingham Bypass has been revised. Construction of Part 2 of the project, the actual bypass from US 220 to US 74, is now funded with construction is to start in 2022. With this project now funded along with the project to upgrade of US 74 between Rockingham and Laurinburg, also to start in 2022, I-73 should be signed from Greensboro to Rockingham and I-74 from High Point to Laurinburg by 2025.

2022? Dang that's long

SM-G360T1

I drove I-74 and I-73/74 back in March. The west Rockingham bypass has started on the northern half. A new trumpet interchange is taking shape where the new bypass will meet the existing US 220 going south into Rockingham. Frontage roads are being constructed between the new US 220 interchange and Ellerbe. Looks like there is some minor grading along the rest of the planned route to the existing US 74 freeway.

To the north, the new alignment of I-73 is visible on Google Maps for the NC 68 connector. Grading for interchanges at NC 65 and a "reversed" diamond at US 158 (there was a diamond here prior however US 158 was the through route!). This route is expected to open to traffic in December of 2016 and be signed as I-73.

[Mapmikey]

NCDOT is putting out an I-73 Greensboro update in their April 2016 Transportation Board meeting...

http://www.ncdot.gov/board/bot/committees/highways/Hwys_I-73_Connector_Update.pdf

Mike

[bob7374]

NCDOT is putting out an I-73 Greensboro update in their April 2016 Transportation Board meeting...

http://www.ncdot.gov/board/bot/committees/highways/Hwys_I-73_Connector_Update.pdf

Mike

Looks like the NC 68 part will open first in December, followed by the Bryan Blvd to NC 68 in April 2017. Guess they'll have to keep any I-73 signs covered up north of NC 68 until the southern section is complete, if they go strictly by the book. No mention of the completion date for the US 220 project, which according the the Construction Progress Report is June 2017, but still only 57% done.

[I94RoadRunner]

The powers that be, IMHO, dropped the ball in allowing NC all of this latitude for a project that will never connect up, nor be finished in any meaningful way.  It is confusing to motorists, pointless, and even if completed, there are plenty of places on either "interstate" where the most logical route between two points on the route will not be the route, which should never happen.

This is my humbe solution.

Simply renumber the short section of I-74 from I-77 to US 52 as either "I-177" or "US 152" with signage of "TO US 52" or "TO I-77" beside it.

Instead of I-177, it could also be a longer I-285 when that finally gets signed in NC along US 52

Let the rest simply carry its US route numbers.  All of the rest of both projects is multi-plexed with current US routes.  US 52, US 311, US 220, US 74.   Renumber the Conway Bypass as "ALT US 501".

[Henry]

The powers that be, IMHO, dropped the ball in allowing NC all of this latitude for a project that will never connect up, nor be finished in any meaningful way.  It is confusing to motorists, pointless, and even if completed, there are plenty of places on either "interstate" where the most logical route between two points on the route will not be the route, which should never happen.

This is my humbe solution.

Simply renumber the short section of I-74 from I-77 to US 52 as either "I-177" or "US 152" with signage of "TO US 52" or "TO I-77" beside it.

Instead of I-177, it could also be a longer I-285 when that finally gets signed in NC along US 52

Let the rest simply carry its US route numbers.  All of the rest of both projects is multi-plexed with current US routes.  US 52, US 311, US 220, US 74.   Renumber the Conway Bypass as "ALT US 501".

Or, if they insist on making an Interstate between Mt. Airy and Rockingham at least, they should make it a southern I-79, and the east-west portion I-3x (preferably 32, 34 or 36) as part of an Asheville-Charlotte-Wilmington Interstate. Fictional, I know, but it would make a lot more sense than what we have now.

[WashuOtaku]

Keep in mind that the state nor AASHTO picked the Interstate numbers, that was the U.S. Congress.   

[I94RoadRunner]

Yes and no. It is like I-26 - a 'diagonal' interstate. That is if the interstate in NC EVER gets connected to Cincinnati. Probably not in my lifetime. Come on WV, what is the hold up 

[I94RoadRunner]

Well, I have a more positive feeling with the I-73/I-74 multiplex; in fact I traveled on it from Greensboro, NC to Ellerbe in 2007. I see what the feds are trying to do, but is US 52 in West Virginia from Huntington to Bluefield so congested that I-73/I-74 have to go through there? I also wonder why Ohio gave up on it. I think US 23 from the Ohio River to Findley, OH should be an interstate corridor. I really think I-73 should be on the US 29 corridor from Greensboro to Washington as a good alternate to I-95. Has the NCDOT decided on what to do with US 74?

I-83 was once considered for the US 29 corridor from Greensboro to Baltimore.

[NE2]

I-83 was once considered for the US 29 corridor from Greensboro to Baltimore.

Was it? Or was that just one guy's proposal?

[CanesFan27]

I-83 was once considered for the US 29 corridor from Greensboro to Baltimore.

Was it? Or was that just one guy's proposal?

It was just a guy who posted to MTR on an annual basis that 83 should follow that route.  I think he did a webpage at one point.

[Henry]

Yes, he did:
http://i-83ext.freehomepage.com

(Sorry, that page is down, apparently.)

[Mapmikey]

The most comprehensive study regarding improving the entirety of US 29 from NC to I-66 was done in 2009 and as far as I can tell they do not even float the idea of turning it into an interstate/freeway:
http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/lynchburg/route_29_corridor_study.asp

They even rejected two potential projects that would have been beneficial to an interstate upgrade in this document (road from I-64 near SR 616) north to Gordonsville then following US 15 corridor back to Culpeper and also a bypass of Buckland where a road from roughly VA 215 jct would go straight north to I-66:  http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/resources/Culpeper/Route_29/Addendum-Route_29_Corridor_Study1.pdf


Mike

[wdcrft63]

The most comprehensive study regarding improving the entirety of US 29 from NC to I-66 was done in 2009 and as far as I can tell they do not even float the idea of turning it into an interstate/freeway:
http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/lynchburg/route_29_corridor_study.asp

They even rejected two potential projects that would have been beneficial to an interstate upgrade in this document (road from I-64 near SR 616) north to Gordonsville then following US 15 corridor back to Culpeper and also a bypass of Buckland where a road from roughly VA 215 jct would go straight north to I-66:  http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/resources/Culpeper/Route_29/Addendum-Route_29_Corridor_Study1.pdf

Mike

Thanks for this link; I hadn't seen this report before. It's interesting that it does call for continuous freeway from Danville past Lynchburg to Amherst. This could conceivably be an extended I-785. However, given the reluctance of Virginia to build I-73 from Martinsville to Roanoke, no one should expect them to build that interstate plus a parallel freeway along US 29 anytime in the next several decades.

[CanesFan27]

Yes, he did:
http://i-83ext.freehomepage.com

(Sorry, that page is down, apparently.)

Why does it not surprise me that you most likely had bookmarked that page. 

[Henry]

The most comprehensive study regarding improving the entirety of US 29 from NC to I-66 was done in 2009 and as far as I can tell they do not even float the idea of turning it into an interstate/freeway:
http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/lynchburg/route_29_corridor_study.asp

They even rejected two potential projects that would have been beneficial to an interstate upgrade in this document (road from I-64 near SR 616) north to Gordonsville then following US 15 corridor back to Culpeper and also a bypass of Buckland where a road from roughly VA 215 jct would go straight north to I-66:  http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/resources/Culpeper/Route_29/Addendum-Route_29_Corridor_Study1.pdf

Mike

Thanks for this link; I hadn't seen this report before. It's interesting that it does call for continuous freeway from Danville past Lynchburg to Amherst. This could conceivably be an extended I-785. However, given the reluctance of Virginia to build I-73 from Martinsville to Roanoke, no one should expect them to build that interstate plus a parallel freeway along US 29 anytime in the next several decades.

The separate freeway sections are already in place, so it wouldn't exactly be too farfetched to build new connections where needed. As VA has apparently joined the No I-73 bandwagon, I think that it's safe to say it's dead outside the Carolinas. True, it may be east of I-77, but at least it's more tolerable than I-99 further north.

[briantroutman]

Yes, he did:
http://i-83ext.freehomepage.com

(Sorry, that page is down, apparently.)

Why does it not surprise me that you most likely had bookmarked that page.

It is on the Internet Archive, however:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010802231110/http://www.i-83ext.freehomepage.com/interstate83.html

[WashuOtaku]

The separate freeway sections are already in place, so it wouldn't exactly be too farfetched to build new connections where needed. As VA has apparently joined the No I-73 bandwagon, I think that it's safe to say it's dead outside the Carolinas. True, it may be east of I-77, but at least it's more tolerable than I-99 further north.

Having no funds to build I-73 doesn't mean they are not in the bandwagon.  They are basically in the same boat as South Carolina, crazy about I-73 but don't want to pay for it. 

[bob7374]

I have updated my I-74 Segment 4 page with several photos taken of construction of the future Business 40/Winston-Salem Outer Beltway interchange. Photos are here:
http://www.gribblenation.net/i7374nc/i74seg4.html

[bob7374]

Thanks to MazdaStrider, here is one of the new BGSs placed along Bryan Blvd. in anticipation of the completion of I-73 north of Greensboro later this year:


Another photo of the new PTI Airport exit sign with its future I-73 exit number is available on my I-73 Segment 4 page: http://www.gribblenation.net/i7374nc/i73seg4.html

Based on sign plans given to MazdaStrider here are the future I-73 exit numbers from the PTI Airport exit north:
Exit 110 NC 68 South High Point
Exit 111 NC 68 North Oak Ridge
Exit 116 NC 150 Summerfield
Exit 119 US 220 South Greensboro
Exit 120 US 158 Stokesdale, Reidsville
Exit 122 NC 65 to NC 68 South
Exit 123 NC 68 South
I have updated my I-73 Exit List with this information.