Just kidding. I-74 was a byproduct of the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation and Efficiency Act, a pork-barrel project passed by Congress to give lots of places around the country shiny new roads. To North Carolina, in the immediate term I-74 provided accelerated funding for a few projects the state had wanted to build for many years. More recently, I-74 has become a boast to wave around, especially considering how many "Future I-74 Corridor" signs have sprouted up in places that don't strictly deserve them (see Part VI below). 

Several years and rounds of funding after its inception, I-74 signs are spreading across the state like kudzu. In theory, the road will one day enter the state along with I-77 from Virginia and leave it in its lower right-hand corner, crossing into South Carolina near North Myrtle Beach (see State Map). The road would roughly follow U.S. 52, 311, 220 and 74 from north to south. At least four sections of I-74 are "done", several additional stretches of road sport I-74 signs and a few other segments are currently under development. But much of the proposed road won't receive funding, much less design or construction, until at least 2009. 

This is the story of past, present and future Interstate 74 in North Carolina -- county by county, from north to south.

The new I-74 and N.C. 752. From I-77 exit 101, I-74 today runs southeast for about 12 miles to end at U.S. 52. This road today is signed completely, and exclusively, as I-74. It is the only part of I-74 in the state that is not signed with any other highway number or FUTURE qualifier. (It has never been signed as Future 74.) 

A connector from 77 to Mount Airy had been planned since I-77 first opened in the late 1970s. 77 was built with an unusually wide spread median to accommodate a split, or "Directional T", interchange north of exit 100 (N.C. 89). Some pre-I-74 maps suggest short ghost ramps were built off I-77 long ago. (I don't remember such ramps myself, but I probably wasn't paying attention.) The connector was needed to shuffle traffic between 77 to 52 without using overburdened N.C. 89. This was especially important for trucks, which are banned from using steep, twisty 52 to descend the Blue Ridge Escarpment. 

Construction of the 77-to-52 connector took place in the mid-1990s. In early 1994, a very short stretch of freeway opened from 77's exit 101 southeast to N.C. 89. This road was originally given the number N.C. 752, chosen partially because it was an amalgam of the numbers 77 and 52, but also to signify the road wasn't yet ready for Interstate status. In July 1998, the freeway was extended 5.7 miles east to end at U.S. 601. By this time, I-74 signs were erected on most of the road. Northbound 601 was the designated detour between 74 and 52. 601 was signed with "To I-74" signs for about 12 months in 1998 and 1999. 

Although the new freeway was completely outfitted with Interstate 74 signs (and not N.C. 752 or FUTURE signs) by the end of 1998, the exit off I-77 would still be signed for N.C. 752 (rather then I-74) for a while afterwards (Image #1; see also this photo from the same interchange heading south). By March 1999, the 752 markers on the Exit 101 signs were replaced with I-74 markers[1]. This would seem to render the 752 designation dead, except that 752 is mentioned on the state's 2002-2008 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP). 
  

Interstate? Not any time soon. Although U.S. 52 is entirely a freeway between the "new" I-74 and W-S, the aforementioned "Future" is a long way off. Most of the 52 freeway has not changed since its early-1960s construction. Among other deficiencies, 52 sports at least two left exits, insufficiently wide shoulders, and substandard grading (the road undulates with the terrain to an extent avoided today). In addition, the exit numbers on 52 go the wrong way for an even-numbered Interstate: lower, rather than higher, heading towards Winston-Salem. While this latter problem is easy to correct, the exits on 52 were numbered only recently, around 1995[2], suggesting the state does not intend to renumber them. 

Currently no funding is in place to improve 52 until at least 2009. Upgrading 52 to Interstate standards from N.C. 66 northwest to the new 74 freeway is listed as a $109 million unfunded project in the 2002-2008 TIP. A few bridge replacements on 52 will get funding in the meantime.

I-74 would then continue further "clockwise" (south) from 421 to hit U.S. 311 southeast of W-S. The 2002 TIP lists this road as a 4.7-mile, $114-million (!) unfunded project with the comment "programmed for corridor protection". 

If the southeastern part of the W-S beltway (from 3 o'clock to 4 o'clock, roughly) were never built, I-74 could instead be routed along 52 straight through downtown W-S and east along 311 into Guilford County.

The existing 220/73/74. From U.S. 311's southern terminus at the U.S. 220 freeway, I-74 is currently signed along the entire 220 freeway south through Asheboro. In 1997, this freeway became the first road in the state to receive I-74 (and I-73) shields. BEGIN and END FUTURE 74 signs are posted on the freeway at the 311 interchange (bottom of page).  

While some of the shields along the 220 freeway read FUTURE 74, with the word FUTURE where INTERSTATE usually goes, other signs read INTERSTATE 74. Compare Images #4 and #5 at right. This stretch of freeway is usually the only stretch of I-73 or I-74 shown on maps. 

The freeway is substandard in the Asheboro area. Most egregiously, the interchange with N.C. 42 is an interior diamond, with left entrance and exit ramps all the way around. The state has allocated $7.5 million for modernization in the Asheboro area (construction starting 2005) and $3.1 million to widen the shoulders on the existing 220/73/74 freeway in Montgomery County (construction starting 2007). You should be able to see the narrow shoulder in Image #5. (I recall having to park partly on the pavement to photograph most of the signs on this stretch of road; it's that narrow.) 

See I-73, part III for more on the history of this freeway, and I-73, part V for more comments.

From the freeway's current southern terminus to just south of Ellerbe, $110 million in funding has been provided for a 16.2-mile stretch of freeway. Right-of-way acquisition began in 1998, and construction could begin as early as 2001.  

South of Ellerbe, an $89 million, 10.5-mile road will bypass Rockingham to the west and carry both I-73 and I-74. This project is shown on maps to include upgrading part of the existing four-lane 220 north of Rockingham to Interstate standards. Right-of-way acquisition will not begin until 2006, and construction will take place after 2008. Most or all of this segment of freeway will be on a new road. 

NCDOT jumping the gun? in late 2000, new FUTURE 73/74 CORRIDOR signs (Image #6) were posted over the nonfreeway portion of U.S. 220 in southern Montgomery and Richmond counties. The signs are posted as far south as the junction of U.S. 1 with the brand-new (November 2000) U.S. 74 freeway, at which point a sign announces the end of the future 73 (Image #7). To put it charitably, the state is stretching the truth a bit here. While most of I-74 looks like it will get done in this area, much of it is still several years off, and again, most of it will be built as a new road, rather than as an upgrade to the existing 220 or 1. 
 
By the way, the lack of any words (FUTURE, INTERSTATE, whatever) in the "red" part of the Interstate shields is a new style as of late 2000. 

The Rockinghamlet bypass. Somewhere southwest of Rockingham, I-73 will in theory diverge from I-74 and head due south into South Carolina. (This is a sticky situation; see I-73, part IV.) I-74 will swing east and join U.S. 74 over the newly-opened freeway bypass of Rockingham and Hamlet. A 3.1-mile stretch of this freeway, noncontiguous from the rest of the road, was finished in the spring of 2000, and the entire 13.1-mile, $110-million freeway opened on November 28, 2000[4]. Compared to figures provided in the state's TIP, the freeway was built about a month early and $3 million under budget. Image #8 shows the freeway proposed. 

This bypass was one of the state's more pressing needs in recent years: the old U.S. 74 through this area was agonizingly slow. The Interstate designation probably helped get it funded. 

East of the U.S. 1 interchange, but nowhere west of it, the new Rockinghamlet bypass is co-signed as Future I-74 in addition to U.S. 74. (The I-74 shields read FUTURE where INTERSTATE belongs, as they do elsewhere.) Crossing roads that have interchanges with the freeway indicate it as both U.S. 74 and Future I-74. However, the western "terminus" of I-74 at U.S. 1 is not entirely accurate, because a completed I-74 would hook up with this freeway a couple of miles to the west of the 1 exit. There are no BEGIN or END I-74 signs posted anywhere on the freeway. 

Note that the completed I-74 is planned to take a rather circuitous 3/4-circle route around Rockingham. 

Hamlet to Laurinburg. Between the eastern end of the Rockinghamlet bypass and the western end of the Laurinburg/Maxton bypass (approximately 13 miles), U.S. 74 contains grade crossings and traffic lights, and will not be improved in the foreseeable future. The state lists upgrading the existing U.S. 74 to Interstate standards as a $66-million unfunded project. Even so, signs proclaiming the road as a future I-74 corridor popped up along it in late 2000 (Image #9). 

The Laurinburg bypass: Where 74 first met 74. The U.S. 74 freeway around Laurinburg and Maxton dates from the 1960s. In the fall of 1998[3], the entire freeway was signed as FUTURE I-74 for the first time, in addition to U.S. 74. This became the first place in the country where Interstate and U.S. highways with identical numbers were signed over the same stretch of road, beating the Rockinghamlet bypass by two full years. See photo at top, also Image #10.

From N.C. 41 southwest to U.S. 76 near Chadbourn, widening of the existing U.S. 74 to four lanes was completed in mid-1999 (18.5 miles, $49 milllion). This road is not a freeway, however, and there are no plans -- not even unfunded ones -- to turn it into one. A few, but not all, cross roads will be upgraded to interchanges over time. Safe to say, this stretch of U.S. 74 will not receive I-74 signs anytime soon. 

Into South Carolina. The final stretch of the proposed I-74 would run from the U.S. 74/76 junction in Columbus County southeast to U.S. 17 at the S.C. line. This 31-mile new road is unfunded until at least 2009, but has been estimated by the state to cost $288 million. Originally the language of the Federal bill authorizing I-74 implied the Interstate would run east along U.S. 74 all the way to Wilmington, than double back along U.S. 17 into South Carolina. However, it now seems this last leg of I-74, if it ever were to be built, would roughly parallel N.C. 130 and N.C. 905 on a more direct route into S.C. The mileage and this project's listing as a new road are the giveaways.

The submissive 74. The stretch of "I-74-only" freeway in Surry County is the only one that uses I-74's hypothetical mile markers and exit numbers. Mileposts on the 52 freeway follow 52's mileage and those on the 220/73/74 freeway follow I-73's mileage. The guess is that when mileposts are posted on the Rockinghamlet and Laurinburg/Maxton bypasses, they will follow U.S. 74's mileage and not the Interstate's. Not a good sign for the future of a "unified" I-74. 

3dis, anyone? Winston-Salem is getting a couple of new freeways, in addition to a modernized Green 40, over the next decade. These roads are gonna need numbers, and common wisdom would call for them to become x40 Interstates. However, there aren't too many x40s left. Instead, start assigning x74s -- Green 40 could be I-274, and part of the the Northern Beltway could be I-374 or 474, depending on whether or not the entire loop will be built. You could even go wild and number the U.S. 311 freeway as I-574. A nice legacy for a new Interstate to provide, especially in a state that could feasibly use up all its possible x40s. 

I-74 and U.S. 74. The state seems to like having two different route 74s, and even flaunts it by posting Future I-74 signs that aren't absolutely necessary. If this is a conscientious decision on the part of the NCDOT, it is not a bad one. U.S. 74 is probably too important to be renumbered at this stage, the "clash" makes the state unique and few people are confused, at least for now. Plus, it gives North Carolina road fanatics an excuse to visit the otherwise forgettable Rockingham and Laurinburg areas. 
  

U.S. 52 corridor: I-4404 (upgrade shoulders) and R-3441 (other upgrades) 
W-S Northern Loop: U-2579 (funded) and U-2579A (unfunded) 
High Point "East Belt": R-609 
U.S. 311/Randolph County: R-2606 
Improvements to 220/73/74: I-4406, I-4407, I-4022 
Montgomery/Richmond county freeway south to Ellerbe: R-2231 
Rockingham western bypass: R-3421 
Rockinghamlet bypass: R-512 
Hamlet to Laurinburg: I-3801 
West of Lumberton: R-513 
East of Lumberton to 74/76: R-2558 (complete) 
Hypothetical I-74 into S.C.: R-3436