I-73 Segment 10/I-74 Segment 11

Segment Info

This section of I-73 and I-74 opened on January 7, 2008. The highway was initially planned as the extension of the US 220 bypass freeway route from it's previous end near Candor to about a 1/2 mile south of Ellerbe. The previous US 220 in this stretch was a congested 2-lane highway that passed through the towns of Norman and Ellerbe, and was one of the last 2-lane stretches of US 220 in the state. The new freeway parallels the old route mostly to the east (see map above). The contract for construction on this project (No. I-2231) was let in August 2003 to BMCO Construction Inc. with a cost of $65 million. The project was actually split into two contracts, with one covering construction the portion from where NC 73 would intersect US 220 south of Norman to the existing I-73/74 freeway and the other from NC 73 connecting to the existing 4-lane US 220 south of Ellerbe.

Construction of the new highway began in September 2003. The entire freeway was scheduled to be completed by December 31, 2006, but apparently there were some problems with the contractor, especially building the southern end of project. NCDOT had indicated in 2006 that the freeway would not open until both sections were completed.¹ While much of the northern part was technically complete in early 2007, the southern stretch, particularly south of the future interchange with the 'NC 73 Extension' east of Ellerbe was still only graded in the spring, with asphalt only placed north of this interchange. An NCDOT official indicated at the end of March 2007 that the contractor had run out of money and had been taken over by the firm's bonding company.² The project resumed in May 2007 with new completion date of December 31, 2007, (later pushed back to early January 2008). The final asphalt was put down by the end of December thanks to unusually dry and warm weather conditions. For some construction photos taken before the route opened in July of 2006 and March, August and December of 2007, see below.

Because the freeway was completed before NCDOT had asked the FHWA to include it as part of the Interstate system, the highway was signed as US 220/Future I-73/Future I-74, not as a full interstate. Exit numbers ran from 24 at Alternate US 220 near Emery to Exit 8 for Business US 220 south of Ellerbe reflecting US 220's mileage. According to an agreement NCDOT made with the FHWA in June 2010, the route could be signed as official I-73/I-74 after the project to upgrade the section through Asheboro was let. Though the project was let later in the month NCDOT did not officially ask for FHWA approval until July 2011 and did not change all of the signs until December 2013. This turned out due the wait for the I-73/74 section through Asheboro to be completed so NCDOT could let a contract in December 2012 to update all the signage along US 220 between Greensboro and Ellerbe at the same time. This contract, Project I-5329, upgraded, starting in March 2013, the exit signage, changing the exit numbers to those based on I-73 mileposts (see list for numbers below), and, most significantly, removing the Future I-73 and I-74 shields (or signs in this case) and replacing them with I-73 and I-74 shield assemblies. The project was scheduled to be completed by October 2013 but was delayed so that it was not until late December when the last of the future banners on the interstate signs at the entrance ramps at each interchange were removed.

As part of this project, US 220 signs were removed from this segment and its route was put back on its old alignment.³Between 2008 and the end of 2013 the old alignment of US 220 was designated on maps and exit signs as Alternate US 220 in the north and US 220 Business at the southern end (where the change in designations was was not indicated, though Google Maps seems to place it at the northern intersection with NC 73), most of the signs, however, did not get any Business of Alternate banners and NCDOT never applied to AASHTO to get these designations, thus there was no problem 'returning' US 220 to its old route. The lack of placing new banners now seems a conscious decision on NCDOT's part.

NCDOT also apparently had second thoughts about the proposed routing of NC 73. A contract, No. R-3303, publicized as the extension of NC 73 2 miles to the east from its current southern intersection with US 220 north of Ellerbe to the new freeway cost $5 million to build and was completed on October 22, 2006. This would have resulted in I-73 and NC 73 sharing the same roadway for several miles from the intersection with the new extension north to where the existing NC 73 highway crosses US 220.⁴ However, when the road was opened, exit signage listed only the northern exit as NC 73 while the southern exit for the 'NC 73 Extension' only got a 'To West NC 73' auxiliary sign at the exit ramp. Perhaps NCDOT thought the proposed plan too confusing. New signage for this interchange will have NC 73 and I-73 related signage on separate assemblies approaching from NC 73, unlike most of the other interchanges with other numbered routes. A newspaper article touting the opening of the highway however, listed separate exits for NC 73 West and East.⁵ In May 2006 a group of Ellerbe area officials set up a committee on how to encourage travelers to keep visiting local produce stands and area attractions along current US 220 after Interstate 73/74 opens to traffic.⁶ Apparently this included persuading NCDOT to return US 220 to its original alignment, as referred to above.