I-74 Segment 5

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Segment Information

I-74 is to be routed from the southern end of the planned Winston-Salem Northern Beltway onto the existing US 311 freeway to the new US 311 Bypass of High Point. From the chosen alternative for the Winston-Salem Northern Beltway Eastern Half Extension, the Beltway and US 311 will meet about a mile west of the Union Cross Road interchange. The segment then runs east about 7 miles to Exit 65, the former US 311 exit in High Point. The segment received its I-74 signage in August 2014, all the way to I-40, a distance of about 10 miles, the extra three miles being a temporary connection until the Winston-Salem Beltway is completed. This was a lot earlier than many people expected, and, as it turned out, was largely due to a mistake by the FHWA. Details are below. In March 2018, NCDOT stated it planned to truncate the US 311 designation at US 52 in Winston-Salem meaning the segment will be simply signed as I-74 by the end of 2019.¹AASHTO approved of this request at the May 21, 2018 meeting of its Special Committee on US Route Numbering.²Here's a map of the decommissioned US 311:

In April 2020, NCDOT contractors removed US 311 signs from along I-74 and I-40 in Forsyth County. Here are two of the revised signs, first on I-40 West at the now simply I-74 East exit, courtesy of J. Austin Carter:

The second on I-40 East just prior to the new construction zone for the future Beltway interchange, from Google Maps Street View, September 2022:

Initial Plan for I-74 Routing

When the I-74 route was created in 1997 it was thought the existing US 311 freeway needed to be upgraded to Interstate standards before it could be signed as I-74. There had never been any mention in the NDOT STIP documents since 1997, however, about a project to upgrade this roadway. The only construction that took place on this segment for the first decade was that during the summer of 2002 NCDOT had a construction crew repaving US 311 and widening the shoulders of the highway at a cost of $4.4 million, however, from appearances(as seen in the photos below), it appeared the widening was not quite to interstate standards.⁴ It was suggested in the meanwhile that maybe NCDOT was considering to request a waiver from the FHWA to allow them to sign this segment as I-74 once the Winston-Salem Beltway connection was completed, however, due to continuing delays with this project, by 2008 it appeared this might not occur until sometime in the 2020s.

The first appearance of I-74 Signage

In the summer and fall of 2008 though, NCDOT contractors started putting up new exit signs along this segment with I-74 milepost numbers, including the current US 311 exits with Ridgewood Road and I-40, even though that are not along the proposed path of I-74.⁵ (For a complete list of exits go to the I-74 Exit List.) Later, in December 2008, NCDOT also put up Future I-74/US 311 signage along the same stretch all the way to I-40.⁶Speculation at the time on the reasoning behind extending I-74 signage and exit numbers to current I-40 could be that NCDOT was not convinced the Beltway route may be the final I-74 route (see I-74 Segment 4 for more information) or they wanted a continuous I-74 route to be signed if the rest of the surrounding I-74 segments are completed before the Beltway, or if there was a significant delay in constructing the final segment to US 311. If US 52 is upgraded through Winston-Salem first, conceivably I-74 could take that to I-40, then east to US 311, at least temporarily.⁵ NCDOT in 2011 funded a feasibility study to look at upgrading the I-40 US 311 interchange that could be part of that process. In a somewhat confusing move, on the Guilford County part of this roadway, they also replaced one of the two Future Interstate 74 Corridor signs (the one heading west) similar to the one seen on the AARoads website.

Interstate 74 Arrives Sooner Than Expected

In April 2012 though speculation ended, NCDOT sent a letter to the FHWA asking that they officially add this segment (all of US 311 in Forsyth County west to I-40) to the interstate system as a Future Interstate Route.⁷They told the Regional administrator that they would work with their District 9 office to expedite the placement of signs quickly after they got the approval. This was odd given that Future I-74 signs have been up for four years. In October 2012 NCDOT did receive a reply from the FHWA. From the wording in the letter, it appeared that NCDOT, at the request of the FHWA Regional Office, had investigated the possibility that the US 311 freeway could be considered interstate standard. Despite the findings of NCDOT engineers sent to investigate, that the shoulders along US 311 in Forsyth County were not up to interstate standards, NCDOT was granted permission to sign the route from I-40 east (including the East Belt freeway (see I-74 Segment 6) to the freeway's current end at Cedar Square Road, a total of 22.1 miles) as I-74.⁸ On March 4, 2013, as the result of this approval, it was reported that NCDOT planned to put new I-74 signs along the US 311 route during the summer of 2013.⁹ However, no sign project took place during the summer nor during the rest of 2013.¹⁰ In April 2014, a project to place I-74 signs along US 311 was finally advertised by NCDOT. The Division 9 project (Contract DI00053; TIP I-5511) was let on May 14, 2014 and, many weeks after NCDOT gave permission to start on June 2, began on August 7 and was completed by November 2014.¹¹ Given the small amount of work needed (the winning bid was only $79,000), however, most, if not all the I-74 signage was in place by the end of third week of August.¹²

Signing I-74 a Mistake?

In late August 2014, after most, if not all the new signage was placed, a report appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal by Wesley Young, widely reprinted elsewhere in the Triad area, that the signing of I-74 was due to a mistake by the FHWA's regional office in interpreting the April 2012 letter from NCDOT. As indicated above, the letter talked about two segments of I-74, the recently completed East Belt project NCDOT wanted signed as I-74 and the Forysth County US 311 freeway which NCDOT asked to be designated Future I-74, that was constructed in the 1970s. The April letter reaffirmed a previous letter sent to Raleigh in 2011 that had stated the 'requested sections of I-74 were built to Interstate Standards at the time of construction" (emphasis added). Apparently the regional office took that to mean both segments were of current interstate standards and forwarded the letter to the Secretary's office in Washington for approval. The October 2012 letter from Deputy Director Mendez granted the I-74 designation to the entire freeway east of I-40 saying "Our North Carolina Division Office confirms U.S. 311 from I-40 to S.R. 1993 [Main Street in High Point] … has been completed to Interstate standards." When the mistake was realized later, the FHWA gave NCDOT permission to keep the signs up as long as the agency planned to upgrade the segment to interstate standards as part of a future rehabilitation project for the roadway. No project is currently planned though, according to an NCDOT official.¹³ A repaving contract let in February 2016 had plans that suggested the possibility of widening the shoulders, possibly to interstate standards. A cross-section of the paving plan from the contract documents is below¹⁴. A check of Google Maps Street View images taken of work completed in November 2016, however, showed while the shoulders may have been widened a little, they still were not wide enough for an interstate.

NCDOT plan for repaving I-74 in Spring of 2016

Finally, here's a map from Journal article that shows the extent of I-74 signage after the completed sign work in 2014, and the remaining segments of I-74 planned in the Triad area:¹³

Signing Plans (Updated 9/4/22)

In August 2022, NCDOT published plans for the last project to complete the Eastern (I-74) Section of the Winston-Salem Northern Beltway (see I-74 Segment 4). The plans indicated the replacement route for I-74 when it it is placed on the Beltway, NC 192, will have new exit numbers. I-40 East will be Exit 1, Ridgewood Road will be Exit 2 and I-74 West will be Exit 3. Work on this section of the Beltway is to start by early 2023 and be finished by 2026. Work zone signs were placed along the construction zone in October 2022. A sample of the sign plans:

EARLIER PLANS

In May 2019, NCDOT posted signing plans for a contract that would both update signage along US 52 between I-40 and I-85 to reflect it's new designation as Interstate 285 but also the 2014 signage along I-40 and I-74 in Forsyth County to reflect the decommissioning of US 311. Here are some of the sign plans for I-74. The contract is to be let on September 25, 2019 and changes are planned for later in the fall:¹⁵

Westbound signage at I-40, which will include the placement of and End I-74 sign, and an Exit 55 tab on the overhead signs for I-40 East:

The current reassurance marker signs will be replaced by standard single-post I-74 reassurance markers:

The recently updated signs at Union Cross Road will be modified as well (as with other ramps signs):

When the new I-74 Northern Beltway is completed, NCDOT plans to sign the former I-74 west of the Beltway interchange as NC 192.³

Earlier Sign Plans

The plans below indicate what the I-74/US 311 exit and guidance signs appeared as after they were installed along I-40 and US 311 from Winston-Salem to High Point in August 2014, see Photos section for the actual signs (the plans will stay up until more photos of the real signage can be posted):

A. Guide Signs. These replaced the Future I-74/US 311 signs (see photos of earlier signs below), five in each direction after Exits 65, 63, 60, 59 and 56 westbound and 55, 56, 59, 60 and 63 eastbound:

Image of signage plan for I-74 East/US 311 South signs in Forsyth County 2014

The plans did not indicate the placement of any I-74 signs at on-ramps along US 311 under this contract. Signs were still not present in the weeks since the overhead signs were installed. It is possible that NCDOT crews will install these signs themselves around the same time as the contractor is placing those under the signing contract.

Exit Numbers for this Segment

The following I-74 Exit Numbers were applied to this segment in November 2008¹⁶:

Exit 55 I-40 East Greensboro (WB, US 311 merges with I-40 West)*
Exit 56 Ridgewood Rd*
Exit 59 Union Cross Rd
Exit 60 High Point Rd
Exit 63 NC 66, Kernersville
Exit 65 No. Main St, High Point, DOWNTOWN**

*Not along currently planned I-74 alignment. NCDOT is to change the designation of this section to NC 192 when I-74 is rerouted onto the Winston-Salem Northern Beltway in 2026. (see sign plan section).

**The original sign read Business US 311 High Point [DOWNTOWN]. In November 2009 NCDOT requested, and AASHTO approved, the decommissioning of Business 311 through High Point. The signs were changed in 2010 as a result.