Where:   US 74 from NC 41 south of Lumberton, Robeson County to US 76 near Whiteville, Columbus County Length:   23 Miles Needed:   Upgrade to Interstate Standards Current Highway signed as:

US 74 from NC 41 south of Lumberton to its intersection with US 76 near Whiteville is a four lane divided highway. A project to widen the road was completed in 1999 but did not include removing most of the existing highway intersections. (1) For I-74 to be routed on this road the current highway would need to be upgraded to Interstate standards by replacing several intersections with interchanges. NCDOT currently has no plans in the 2009-2015 STIP to upgrade this entire portion of US 74 but as part of the 2005 Federal transportation legislation they did receive moneys to upgrade the intersection between NC 242 and US 74/NC 130 (shown below) to an interchange. 

NCDOT first held a workshop on July 11, 2006 to provide local citizens with information about the work and a companion project to upgrade the US 74/76 intersection with NC 211 near Bolton (2). Another meeting was scheduled for May 27, 2008. Right of way acquisition is scheduled to start in January 2009 with construction delayed since 2006 from January to July 2010. (3) NCDOT as part of its 2006 press release said it planned to upgrade US 74 to a 'fully controlled access route' aka freeway between these two projects. This would mean for this segment upgrading about 7 miles of US 74 between the end of the US 74/76 Whiteville Bypass and NC 242. The cost listed for the entire project, $6.8 million, however would seem to be too low to include upgrading the rest of US 74 along with building the new interchange. (4) There already is an interchange built to the east as part of the previous US 74 upgrade at the intersection with NC 410/US 74 Business/East NC 130 that could potentially serve as an interchange for I-74, cutting down on the project cost.

Sources: NC Transportation Map 2001.
(1) Former NCRoads.com, I-74 Page. 
(2) NCDOT. 2006. NCDOT Workshops July 10-11 for Proposed Interchange Additions Along U.S. 74 in Columbus County. Press Release, July 6.
(3) NCDOT. 2008. NCDOT To Hold Public Meeting for Proposed Interchange At U.S. 74/NC 130 at NC 242 Near Evergreen. Press Release, May 13.
(4) NCDOT. June 2008. State Transportation Improvement Plan, 2009-2015, Division 6, Columbus County, p. 6-9.

I-74/US 74 shields courtesy of David R. Kendrick's Shield's Up!.