Where:     US 220 North of Vision Drive in Asheboro, to South of NC 134/US                      220 Business near Ulah, Randolph County  Length:      Two projects that overlap one 8 Miles, other 10.1 miles Needed:     Upgrade to Interstate Standards Signed As:

The US 220 freeway through Asheboro received Future I-73 and I-74 signage when the new section of I-73/74 freeway south of Asheboro was completed in 1997. This segment of highway does not meet current interstate standards in that it features a narrow median, thin left and right shoulders, short merge lanes and left-side exits (for NC 42). (1) NCDOT recently revised and then delayed its plans to upgrade this portion of I-73/74 highway to Interstate status, now to start in 2010, using in part federal funds from the 2005 SAFETEA-LU Transportation Act. (2) Originally project I-4407, covered both safety improvements and interchange redesign in this segment. Now only safety improvements are included in the project, covering 8 miles starting at NC134/Bus. 220 and proceeding northward 8 miles for an estimated cost of $22.8 million starting in 2010 (work that was originally set to start in 2005) that would end in 2013. (3,4)  The interchange improvements are now a different project, I-5105 covering 10.1 miles, from NC 134 to 2 miles further north than the other project which includes 'geometric, operational, and safety improvements' with construction to start after 2015. Work would cost $345 million. (5) NCDOT officials thought they could get a waiver from the FHWA, once the original combined project was to completed around 2011, to sign the highway from Greensboro to Asheboro as a full interstate. Now with the extremely substandard exit ramps due to remain, this may not happen until whenever the interchange project is completed. In 2001/2002 NCDOT also put up Future Interstate 73/74 sign assemblies near US 220 (see photo below), both near on-ramps and, in the case of US 64, at the intersection with Business US 220, a mile east. The first sign assembly going northbound on US 220 after the NC 134/Business 220 exit is currently wrong; it reads North Interstate 73 and West Future Interstate 74 (still hope to get a photo someday).

Intersection of US 64 West and US 220 (Future I-73/74), Asheboro

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Signage along US 220 South of the US 64/NC 49 interchange, note the lack of exit numbers and the narrow shoulders that need to be widened (Photo courtesy of Chris Lawson).

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A more detailed view of the map excerpt above:

For a list of exits in this segment, Go Here.

Sources: ADC North Carolina Road Atlas 1999, p. 61;
(1) Former NCRoads.com I-74 page, text available at: http://members.cox.net/ncroads/interst/ih074.html .
(2) Walker, J.D. 2004. "Road Events Big for 2008." The Courier-Tribune (Asheboro, NC). August 28.
(3) Young, Samantha. 2004. "U.S. 220 Project Would Get $6.6 Million from Bill." Asheboro Courier-Tribune. April 3.
(4) NCDOT. June 2008. State Transportation Improvement Program, 2009-2015, Division 8, p. 8-25. 
(5) NCDOT. June 2008. State Transportation Improvement Program, 2009-2015, Division 8, p. 8-25. 

I-73, 74 and US 220 shields courtesy of David R. Kendrick's Shield's Up!.