Segment 7

Segment Information

I-74 continues from the original US 311 freeway onto more recently completed freeways from south of I-85 (Exit 75) to US 220, now I-73 near  the town of Randleman. When this specific route was chosen in 1997 it disappointed many citizens and government officials in the area since the route cuts a 1000 foot wide path directly through the city of Sophia before meeting US 220. Despite many objections, NCDOT chose this route, designated Corridor C, rather than the Corridor AA route preferred by the public at June 1997 hearings, because it cost $7 million less, avoided a complicated interchange with US 220 (I-73), and would send the least amount of pollution to the future Randleman Reservoir, preventing potential environmental problems.^1,2

The project was listed in the 2009-2015 NCDOT STIP as Number R-2606.³ Right-of-Way acquisition started on the western part of the route in 2003, with a total cost projected at $17.5 million. Construction on the first section, $28.5 million of the total construction cost estimated at $177 million, started on May 29, 2007.⁴ This section featured many bridges and the building of an interchange at Cedar Square Road (Exit 79) which would be the temporary end of I-74 while the remaining segment was still under construction. When completed in 2008, US 311 was temporarily routed west along Cedar Square Road for 1/2 mile back to its original alignment.

The US 311 route from there westward (northward) was to be re-designated US 311 Business, but in the Spring of 2009 High Point officials asked that NCDOT remove the designation where it existed in High Point, thus only a state secondary route now exists along Main Street north of Glenola (see photo in Section 6).⁵ After the freeway was opened in November 2010, workers removed all the US 311 signs to the north along its now former route.⁶ In 2018, NCDOT announced, with the approval of High Point city officials, their intent to truncate US 311 south of Winston-Salem to decrease motorist confusion of having 2 routes with different directions. Signage would be removed by the end of 2018.⁷ On May 21, 2018 the NCDOT application to truncate US 311 was approved by AASHTO's Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering at their meeting in Franklin, Tennessee.⁸ Despite the promise to remove the signs by the end of 2018, US 311 signs still existed in Guilford County into 2021. During the spring US 311 shields finally were removed from overhead signs, along the freeway, and at exit ramps. However, US 311 still is signed as of August 2021 in Randolph County (see photos below), due to those signs being under a different NCDOT Division jurisdiction (Division 8 vs. 7) and apparently no funds there, or knowledge of the decommissioning, to complete the work.

Both parts of this segment had been dubbed the "Missing Link" by the I-74 Piedmont Corridor Group (PCG), an organization of business people, transportation officials, and others lobbying to complete I-74. They created the term in 2003 to call attention to what they saw as NCDOT's too drawn-out segmented plan to complete this portion of the highway, long after many other sections of I-74 were then scheduled to be built. The PGC hoped to put enough pressure on NCDOT to move up its construction timetable for the entire section to match work starting on Segment 6 to the west. Starting both projects at once, supporters said, would be more efficient.⁹ This effort eventually paid off. While start of construction was delayed from October 2006 to May 2007, work on the first part, 5.3 miles from south of I-85 near Archdale to north of Spencer Road (SR 1929) in Glenola¹⁰, began at the same time as work was started on the remaining section of Segment 6.¹¹ Also, whereas earlier plans called for the proposed letting for the next part of the highway, from Spencer Road to US 220 in Sophia, not to occur until after 2012 and be completed in two parts, the final part not to begin a couple years after that,¹² the project instead got most of the funds borrowed under the Garvee Bond Program to expedite a design-build contract. The borrowed funds ($112 million) will be paid back out of the highway fund accounts through 2019.³ Work started on this 7.9 mile segment in October 2008¹³ with the Barnhill Contracting Company responsible for the project. Construction was largely completed by the end of 2012, but due to the need for additional paving that has to wait for warmer weather the opening was held up until June 7, 2013.¹⁴  NCDOT officials had told the Winston-Salem Journal in April 2013 that they hoped to have the highway by Memorial Day¹⁵, they were about two weeks too early. While the route had originally been called the US 311 Bypass, NCDOT decided to keep that route on its original alignment east of where the new and old routes crossed near Sophia. For the last 2 miles the freeway is just signed as I-74, the only place it will be signed alone between Mt. Airy and Rockingham, see photos below.

A closer look at the northern part of the segment from the 2021-2022 State Transportation Map:

"Drive" This Segment with Videos by RoadwayWiz taken in the Summer of 2021

                                I-74 East, Exits 75 to 86                            I-74 West, Exits 86 to 75

"Drive This Segment Using Google Maps Street View (Updated)

I-74 East at I-85: From Off-Ramp to I-85 North and South (August 2021)

I-74 West at Cedar Square Road: Using off-Ramp from westbound Cedar Square Road (August 2021)

I-74 East from Cedar Square Road: From Off-Ramp to Cedar Square Road (June 2021)

I-74 West in Randleman: Using on-ramp from I-73 North (August 2021)

Photos taken from Google Maps Street View images in August and September 2021

US 311 shields still standing in Randolph County

Properly signed route after crossing Guilford County line:

Photos along the completed portion of I-74 in 2012 (Hover over for larger image)

Here are some photos taken after the Eastern section was opened in late June 2013 by site contributor, Adam Prince:

Here are some opening preview photos along the path of I-74 taken by AARoads Forum Member MBHockey13 while jogging along the unopened highway on May 30 and 31, 2013.