I-73 Segment 2

South of NC 68, US 220 is mostly a two-lane roadway. As part of a project that will build a connector between US 220 and NC 68 near Greensboro (listed in the 2009-2015 STIP as project No. R-2413C, see Segment 3), NCDOT will upgrade the current highway to a "multi-lane" roadway between the NC 68 intersection and 2 miles south of US 158 near the Haw River. The start of work on this segment is now to start in 2012 (delayed from 2010).(1) The total cost for the project (right-of-way and construction is now budgeted at around $216 million). (2) The roadway will not be initially designed to Interstate standards, but NCDOT has plans to upgrade it by the time the Connector is complete. (3) This project will be started before work on the Connector (Segment 3, below) begins in 2013. (For an NCDOT diagram of the entire project go HERE.) Below are photos of what current US 220 looks like as November 2009 (all photos courtesy of Bonnie Wilcox, except where noted):

The first interchange for this section of I-73 will be for US 158, Stokesdale, Winston-Salem. There already is an interchange but the road will have to be rebuilt to accomodate a four lane freeway.

Going north the next interchange will be with NC 65, Stokesdale, Reidsville. This is currently an at-grade intersection.

This is the view of US 220 approaching the NC 68 intersection. Currently NC 68 continues as a 4-lane highway and US 220 traffic heading south has to make a left turn across NC 68 traffic heading north. This will have to be rebuilt so that US 220 (I-73) will be the primary roadway and there will be an exit (at least heading south) for NC 68. Bob Malme (2/09)

Other US 220 Widening

NCDOT also has another contract (R-2309) to widen US 220 south of the Connector to Horsepen Creek Road. The southern part of this widening has been completed (see photos below). Many residents in the area object to the remainder of the planned widening feeling that it is unecessarily too wide and costly, especially since the road already goes through several residential areas and crosses lakes that are currently part of Greensboro's water supply. NCDOT put these plans together before the route of I-73 was made official in 2008. It may be the widening design was chosen for the purpose of more easily modifying it to be an interstate highway. NCDOT spokesman even today insist the widening is necessary because US 220 is one of North Carolina's Strategic Highway Corridors. (4) With the final decision to put I-73 on the Connector made (see a fuller discussion on the I-73 Segment 4 page) it seems more likely that less traffic, and definitely fewer trucks, will use this part of US 220 than NCDOT's current estimates show. The statement that this part of US 220 is a strategic corridor is wrong, since that is only where US 220 is to become I-73. Hearings are continuing and local citizens continue to press NCDOT, for a more reasonable solution.

The view of the widened part of US 220 looking South with Horsepen Creek Road in the distance, the widening has increased the presence of commercial establishments.

The view of US 220 North at the current end of the widened 4-lane section. The rest of the route to the Connector is to be widened as well, if NCDOT does not change its mind in response to citizen concerns. As you can see in the distance, several new traffic signals have been added to the highway recently.

Another view of the current US 220 North as it travels through the Cape Fear River Basin and over several lakes used as Greensboro's water supply.

Also as part of Project R-2413, NCDOT plans to build a 'multi-lane connector' between US 220 from near its crossing of the Haw River in Summerfield to where the current NC 68 freeway begins north of Greensboro. Construction, originally set to start in 2002, has been continually delayed due to legal challenges from the city and residents of Summerfield that were first heard in 1999 and then by NCDOT's recent financial difficulties. The lawsuits aimed at getting NCDOT to perform more environmental studies and change some of the routing of the highway. The original construction plan required 75 residences and businesses to be relocated. (5) By early 2002 the city had conceded that I-73 was going to be built and hired a consultant to draft a development plan for where the Interstate will have an interchange with NC 150. (6) Design of this roadway is underway, with Right-of-Way acquisition scheduled starting in 2010. Currently NCDOT plans to start construction around 2013 at an estimated cost of $71 million (7). Most of the connector will be built to Interstate standards with the understanding that those sections not initially constructed as an interstate will be upgraded later. (8)

If anyone has photos of the current roads for either of these segments, feel free to E-mail me.

Sources: Maps-ADC 2002 North Carolina Atlas, p. 44, Map Supply Inc. Greensboro/High Point Street Map 2002, NCRoads (http://www.ncroads.com/interst/ih73.htm).

(1) NCDOT. 2009. Invitations To Bid, October 20, 2009. Table of Revised Letting Dates on p. 3.
(2) NCDOT. June 2008. State Transportation Improvement Program, 2009-2015, Division 7, p. 7-47.
(3) Greensboro Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. 2002. Transportation Project: Greensboro Urban Area. Spring 2002. Downloaded from Greensboro Dept. of Transportation website (www.ci.greensboro.nc.us/GDOT/), Nov. 2002.
(4) E-mail with Bonnie Wilcox regarding conversations with NCDOT officials, 11/2/09.
(5) Ball, Andrea. 1999. "Opponents to I-73 Refuse to Yield; Residents Threaten to File Suit over Interstate's Future Path Through Summerfield." News & Record (Greensboro, NC). April 20: B1.
(6) Nonte, Daniel M. 2002. "Council Planning for Interstate 73." News & Record (Greensboro, NC). January 9: B3.
(7) NCDOT. June 2008. State Transportation Improvement Program, 2009-2015, Division 7, p. 7-47.
(8) Greensboro Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. 2002. Transportation Project: Greensboro Urban Area. Spring 2002. Downloaded from Greensboro Dept. of Transportation website (www.ci.greensboro.nc.us/GDOT/), Nov. 2002.

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