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Winston-Salem
Northern Beltway
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The Winston-Salem
Northern Beltway will be a 35 Mile 3/4 Loop highway that will start at
I-74 on the southeast side of Winston-Salem travel north and west to US
52 then back south and west to I-40, then east to US 158 near Clemmons.
The Beltway is being built in sections, currently mostly on
the eastern side, and is
planned to be completed around 2032. Here's an NCDOT map of the route
and the planned construction dates from July 2019, some dates have
changed due to COVID-19 pandemic related budget shortfalls at NCDOT:
The Beltway was
developed in Eastern and Western Sections. Opened parts of the eastern
section are currently signed as NC 74 (the first from Business 40 to US
158 in early September 2020, the second from US 158 to US 311 in
December 2020) until the Beltway is connected to current I-74 to the
southeast. The sections currently under construction tbetween US 311 and
NC 66/University Parkway and the interchange with US 52 may be opened by
the end of 2022. For more information, construction photos, and sign
plans for this section, visit the I-74
Segment 4 page. (It also contains a history of the Beltway as a
whole, I plan to move that information to this page shortly).
The Western
Section has been designated NC 452 by NCDOT, but they received
permission from AASHTO to designate it also as Future I-274 on May 20, 2019 and
included this map of the future interstate, totaling 16.8 miles, in
their application, it includes the segment between I-40 and US 158.1
Construction was
to start on the western section in 2023. The 2020-2029 STIP showed
funding available to build the remaining Western Section segments,
starting with the US 52 (Future I-74) interchange and the segment from
just south of the US 52 interchange to NC 67. In 2026 construction work
was to start from NC 67 to SR 1348 (Meadowlark Drive/Robinhood Road)
while works was to start from SR 1348 to US 421, including remaining
work on the interchange with US 421 not already constructed as part of
the US 52 interchange project, in 2027. The remainder of the western
section, though not fully funded yet, was to start construction in 2029.3
In the fall of 2019, however, all the Western Section projects
showed up on NCDOT's Project Suspension List created due to new budget
constraints caused by a court decision that the agency owed property
owners millions of dollars due to their placing of their homes in future
highway project corridors without means for the owners to get
compensation, complicated by moneys needed to be spent to fix highways
damaged by hurricanes in the last few years. In December 2019, the
contract for the US 52 to NC 67 segment was taken off the suspension
list with preliminary engineering to restart in January 2020. As of
March 2022, a new timetable has right of way acquisition for the various
sections from north to south to start between 2025 and 2028 while
construction is to start for all segments in either 2027 or 2028.4
How soon it will
be signed as I-274 is an open question. It could be after the first
segment from US 52 to NC 67 is open around 2025/26. Contract documents
for the design-let contract currently building the US 52 interchange
with Future I-74 in the section on signing state I-274 is to appear on
the future overhead signs put up at the project conclusion (Future I-74
will be initially signed here as well as NC 74):
Overhead Sign Installations, Items A – M, and the following locations,
unless allowed otherwise elsewhere in this RFP:
• An option lane at a freeway / expressway multi-lane exit or freeway /
ramp split (use Arrow Per Lane signs)
• A freeway lane ends (freeway lane drop)
• Three or more lanes on a freeway
• All Traffic Exit on freeway and ramps
• On US 52 southbound at the Westinghouse Road interchange – One
full-span overhead sign assembly that accommodates the exit directional
sign, and advance guide signs for the US 52, NC 65 and future I-274
interchanges
• At the NC 74 eastbound / US 52 southbound split – One full-span
overhead sign assembly that accommodates the exit directional sign for US
52 / NC 65 and future I-274, and the pull through sign for NC 74
• On the US 52 southbound collector distributor - One full-span overhead
sign assembly that accommodates the exit directional sign for NC 65, and
the advance guide sign for future I-274
• At the NC 74 westbound / US 52 northbound split – One full-span
overhead sign assembly that accommodates the exit directional sign for US
52 / NC 65 and future I-274, and the pull through sign for NC 74
• On US 52 northbound at the NC 65 interchange – One full-span overhead
sign assembly that accommodates the exit directional sign for NC 65, pull
through sign for US 52, and any lane drop signage, as necessary
• On US 52 northbound at the NC 74 interchange – One full-span overhead
sign assembly that accommodates the exit directional sign for NC 74 and
future I-274, and the advance guide sign for NC 65
• On US 52 northbound at the Hanes Mill Road interchange – One full-span
overhead sign assembly that accommodates the exit directional sign for
Hanes Mill Road, and the advance guide sign for NC 74 and future I-274.2
Notes
(1) NCDOT. 2018. Final Request For Proposals, Design-Build Project TIP
R-2247EB, Winston-Salem Northern Beltway Interchange with US 52 (Future
I-74), p. 258. Downloaded from:
https://connect.ncdot.gov/letting/Design%20Build%20Program/R-2247EB/R-2247EB%20Final%20RFP%20Corrected%
20with%20Disclaimer.pdf, Nov. 26, 2018.
(2) NCDOT. 2019. Application to AASHTO for the Establishment of an
Interstate Route (I-274 Future). April 23. Downloaded from:
https://route.transportation.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2019/06/006_USRN-Applications-Spring-Meeting_-NC-VA_Part-4.pdf,
June 4, 2019.
(3) NCDOT. 2017. State Transportation Improvement Program, 2020 to 2029,
Draft, Division 9, Page 9-8/31.
(4) NCDOT. 2022. Project Timeline, Winston-Salem Northern Beltway
Project Website, downloaded from:
https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/wsnb/Pages/default.aspx, March 21, 2022.
Site Created:
August 3, 2019 Last Updated: March
21, 2022.
(c) Robert H. Malme 2019-2022