StarNews, Oct 30, 2017,
"Officials want to see I-140 get a second interstate shield"
Sub-heading: Designation would brand U.S. 74 from Whiteville, I-140 as part of new I-74
SOUTHEASTERN N.C. -- If local officials and the N.C. Department of Transportation (DOT) get their way, a 57-mile stretch of U.S. 74 and Interstate 140 from Whiteville to Market Street in Porters Neck will be designated as a future stretch of I-74.
“I think it clarifies our intention for it to be an interstate sometime in the future,” said Karen Collette, DOT division engineer for the region that includes Southeastern North Carolina. “It gives us a start.”
The idea has the support of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which assists the DOT with identifying local transportation priorities.
The designation would apply for U.S. 74 from Whiteville to I-140, which is scheduled to open Dec. 15, then I-140 from its intersection with U.S. 74 to its intersection with U.S. 17 northeast of Wilmington.
Officials have noted that there currently exists no quick, easy route from Wilmington, the state’s eighth-largest city, to Charlotte, the state’s largest. During a breakfast forum recently at the University of North Carolina Wilmington focused on transportation, DOT board member Danny McComas -- a Wilmington resident and former New Hanover County state representative -- noted that the most direct route from Wilmington to Charlotte “has about 200 stop lights.”
“Anything we can do to open up that corridor to make it travel-friendlier would be a benefit,” said New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield, who serves on the MPO board. “I think it’s going to be a darn good thing. To get that designated as an interstate would do wonders for commerce.”
“I think it makes sense. I think it would be great to connect our beaches to folks inland,” said Brunswick County Commissioners Chairman Frank Williams, who also serves on the MPO board. “It would also connect Route 74 to Interstate 140, which makes sense. It would just make it more well-connected through here to get people and freight in and out.”
The state for years has been looking at upgrading U.S. 74 to make it an interstate. Transportation officials have long noted that many state highways, including portions of U.S. 74, in all ways resemble an interstate highway, including at least two lanes on each direction of travel, a median and dedicated exits. They are just missing the blue shield designating them as an interstate.
An interstate-quality road connecting the 278 miles from Asheville to Wilmington is something the DOT has said is a needed project. Parts of the route have already been upgraded to interstate standards and designated so by the federal government, but some haven’t. For example, I-74 from Lumberton to Rockingham is a federal interstate. U.S. 74 connecting I-26 to Shelby isn’t an interstate, but is a freeway.
Some sections of U.S. 74 east of I-95 have been upgraded to interstate standards, but aren’t marked as such. Closer to Wilmington, there are currently no plans on the books to upgrade the stretch of U.S. 74 between Acme-Delco in Columbus County and Leland to interstate standards. I-140 intersects U.S. 74 just west of Leland.
Mike Kozlosky, executive director of the Wilmington MPO, said the next step, following the MPO board’s approval of the request, is to ask the DOT to consider the designation.
Collette said businesses often want to be within a short distance of interstates, and that the designation provides them assurance that a major transportation corridor is nearby.
“It certainly is helpful for economic development,” she said. “A blue shield is certainly a draw.”
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