Bill proposes making North Carolina’s U.S. 74 a future interstate

A bill has been introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives to designate U.S. Highway 74 from Columbus, N.C., to Kings Mountain, N.C., as a future stretch of interstate.

Rep. Chuck Edwards has introduced HR2552. Rep. Patrick McHenry is a co-sponsor of the bill.

This bill is the first step toward adding U.S. 74 to the interstate highway system.

A future-interstate designation will allow the North Carolina Department of Transportation to place corresponding signs along the corridor that runs through Polk, Rutherford, Cleveland and Gaston counties, while the road is brought up to interstate standards.

U.S. 74 connects to I-85 west of Charlotte, N.C.

From Kings Mountain, I-26 goes north and connects with I-40 south of Asheville, N.C.

A copy of the bill can be found here.

Attention centered on I-26

Quite a bit of attention has been directed at Interstate 26 in North Carolina. Construction is underway on a project to widen about 17 miles of I-26 from U.S. 64 in Hendersonville to Brevard Road in Asheville. Construction began in October 2019. Completion is estimated to be in 2024.

An I-26 Connector project also is in the works. It would connect I-26 in southwest Asheville to U.S.19/23/70 in northwest Asheville. The 7-mile project includes interchange upgrades to the I-26, I-40 and I-240 interchange. Once complete, the freeway would be part of I-26, which extends from Kingsport, Tenn., to Charleston, S.C. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024 and be completed by summer 2029.

In addition, on I-240 around Asheville there are I-26 signs, but going west or north from Asheville there are blue “future signs” above I-26 shield signs. That part of the highway has not yet been upgraded to interstate standards. A project is in development to upgrade the highway to interstate standards from north of I-240 to Exit 19 at U.S. 25, Weaverville Boulevard, reports WLOS-TV. Right of way acquisition is planned in 2024 and construction is expected to begin in 2027.

For traffic updates around the I-26 widening project or elsewhere in the state, visit DriveNC.gov or follow NCDOT on Twitter.

More North Carolina news is available.