Where:     US 311 High Point East Belt Bypass, North Main Street, High Point, to South of I-85, Guilford County Length:     11 Miles Needed:    Construct New Highway    (Two-Thirds Complete) Completion Date for next part: 2011 Completed Highway signed as:

I-74 will continue along US 311 on what is now referred to as the "East Belt" bypass of High Point. The project to build this segment (Number R-609) has been broken up into three parts. (1) The first two parts are complete. Part one, from where US 311 originally left the freeway at Main Street (now Exit 25 Bus. 311) to NC 68, Eastchester Drive (photo below), almost 2 miles in length, was completed in 1997.  The second part, 4.5 miles from NC 68 to US 29/70 (Business Loop I-85), was opened on November 20, 2004 after a delay of nearly a year (2). Once this section was completed US 311 was re-routed along the completed bypass to Business 85. The exits in both parts are numbered based (for now) on US 311 mileposts (for an I-74 exit list, go HERE). The newly opened section, like its older predecessor, appears to be up to interstate standards, however NCDOT has indicated that some parts are or will not be built to these standards initially. (3) Though some news reports have indicated NCDOT is not planning to sign the highway as I-74 until the freeway is completed to US 220 (I-73), (2) documents posted by NCDOT for the last section contract letting in late 2006 included detailed plans showing the placement of I-74 signage along the entire stretch of highway at the conclusion of the project. They will also assign new exit numbers along the completed segments of the East Belt project (see below). (4) Photos from the two complete sections are below. The Right-of Way acquisition phase for the last part (6.7 miles from Business 85 across I-85 to Tuttle Road, SR 1920 near Archdale) was delayed a year, to 2003, due to environmental concerns about the road's path being near the new Randleman Reservoir, a future drinking water source for Greensboro. (5,6) For the 2007 contract letting this segment was split further into smaller pieces with part of the contract (the piece a mile east of I-85 to Tuttle Road) assigned to the contract for the next segment (R-2606). The winning contractor, Blythe Construction put in a combined bid ($104 million) for both projects. Construction started on May 31, 2007 three years after first scheduled for 2004. (7) There was a ceremonial groundbreaking for the project on July 16, 2007, for the official press release go HERE. (8) According to the NCDOT press release indicating the contract was approved the tentative completion date is May 2011 (the press release indicated the mileage for the entire project from Business 85 to Spencer Road was 6.4 miles, this was due to an error in the letting documents that indicated the distance was in kilometers, the NCDOT public affairs staff putting the release together dutifully translated the given distance of 10.2 'km'  back to miles). (9) As indicated in the 2009-2015 STIP, total costs for building this entire segment are now estimated at $242.8 million. (1) The I-85 interchange will be near the existing NC 62 exit, traffic will exit for both NC 62 (to be Exit 113A) and I-74/US 311 (Exits 113B and C) using the same exit ramp on I-85 north. (4) In May 2008 in anticipation of construction of the I-85 interchange they closed the ramp from NC 62 to I-85 South and have started putting fill in the area surrounding the interchange. I-74 will pass under I-85 so it will be necessary to build up the surrounding area so that temporary bridges can be constructed for I-85 so that traffic on that route will not be affected. (10)

Photos taken along the US 311 Bypass:

 

Photo shows progress on constructing the ramp from Kivett Drive in High Point to Future I-74 East (US 311 South) in October 2003. 

The US 311 Bypass (I-74) interchange and bridge over Kivett Drive in High Point almost a year later, the day after the bypass opened.  (November 21, 2004). 

Here' the unopened ramp from I-74 West/ US 311 North which leads to the current construction area (September 2007).

According to NCDOT Contract Documents (3) the following I-74 Exit Numbers will be applied to this segment when the entire project is completed:
Exit 65 US 311 Business High Point
Exit 66 Johnston St
Exit 67 NC 68 to I-40 Eastchester Drive
Exit 69 Greensboro Rd
Exit 70 Kivett Drive
Exit 71A Green Street (WB only)
Exit 71 (71B WB) Bus. Loop 85/ US 27/ US 70 Thomasville Greensboro
Exit 75A/B I-85 Greensboro Charlotte

If anyone has other photos taken in the vicinity of this segment they would like to share, feel free to E-mail me.

Sources: Map-ADC North Carolina Road Atlas 1999, p. 124;
(1) NCDOT. June 2008. State Transportation Improvement Program, 2009-2015, Division 7, p.7-18.
(2) Dominello, Amy. 2005. "U.S. 311 Bypass Work Delayed." News & Record (Greensboro, NC). May 2, downloaded from http://blog.news-record.com/staff/fastforward/archives/2005/05/from_sundays_pa.html, Oct. 1.
(3) NCDOT. 2006. "I-73/74 Fact Sheet, Interstate System 50th Anniversary." Downloaded from lhttp://www.ncdot.org/ public/50thanniv/ncinterstates/download/factsI73-74.pdf
(4) NCDOT. 2006. Contract Documents, NCDOT Signing Section, Contract C201275, Project R-0609-IA. Downloaded from link at: http://dotw-xfer01.dot. state.nc.us/dsplan/2007%20Highway%20Lettings/4-17-2007/ on 2/17/07.
(5) Schultz, Sue and Paul Muschick. 2002. "State Puts Conditions on Bypass; Officials Are Struggling to Build a Highway Near the Randleman Reservoir." News- Record (Greensboro, NC), High Point/Randolph/Rockingham Edition. Feb. 14: B1.
(6) Johnson, Paul B. 2004. "Bypass Opening Stalls." High Point Enterprise. Sept. 22.
(7) NCDOT. 2007. Construction Progress Report, Contract C201715, downloaded May 29, 2007.
(8) Journal Staff. 2007. "REGIONAL BRIEFS-Ground to be  Broken for Next Leg of Corridor." Winston-Salem Journal. July 10.
(9) NCDOT. 2007. "Transportation Board Awards $104.2 Million Contract to Construct 6.4 Miles of U.S. 311 in Guilford and Randolph Counties." Press Release. May 4. Downloaded from https://apps.dot.state.nc.us/pio/releases/details.aspx?r=1135, May 4, 2007.
(10) Information via e-mail from Bill Travers 5/23/08.

I-74 and US 311 shields courtesy of David R. Kendrick's Shield's Up!