Interstate 73 North Carolina Descriptions

Based on the preferred I-73 corridor announced by South Carolina in July 2007, I-73 will be routed at the North Carolina border to just to the east of the current NC 38 interchange. There it would connect to the U.S. Route 74 Rockingham Bypass freeway south of Hamlet, a proposed western alternative would have had it meeting US 74 a mile east of the NC 177 interchange. I-73 will join I-74 (the freeway is currently signed as Future Interstate 74), where the two will run south of the Rockingham area, and then turn north on a proposed (U.S. Route 220) western bypass of Rockingham. From south of Ellerbe to south of Candor, I-73/74 will use a new US 220 freeway completed on January 8, 2008 which connects with the existing I-73/74 freeway, the new highway is signed as Future I-73/I-74.

Interstate 73 currently begins south of Candor. The portion from south of Steeds north to south of Ulah was completed in 1996, and was the first road marked as I-73 (and I-74), with signs going up by May 1997.[2] Future signage was also installed north to the Greensboro area, and standard signage was later placed south on the early 1980s freeway to south of Candor. Shields north of near Ulah are marked Future, as the older road does not meet Interstate standards. Planned upgrades of this route are scheduled to be started by 2009, after which the route can be marked as a standard interstate. Future I-74 signage ends at the U.S. Route 311 interchange near Randleman, as it will split onto a new freeway paralleling US 311 to High Point, while Future I-73 continues north to Greensboro.

Approaching Greensboro, where the US 220 freeway crosses the southern part of the Greensboro Urban Loop completed in 2004 carrying Interstates 40 and 85, I-73 will exit US 220 and turn west onto the Loop. (The Greensboro Urban Loop is planned full beltway of Greensboro). It joins I-85 and I-40 for a mile before splitting off with I-40 to travel the south and west sides of the Loop. From there it heads northwest and north with I-40 to the interchange with the current I-40 where Interstate 73 currently ends. Plans are for it to proceed onto the northern half of the beltway (signed as Future Interstate 73/Interstate 840), splitting onto Bryan Boulevard, a freeway being partially rebuilt around the north side of the Piedmont Triad International Airport. This will lead to the NC 68 freeway and a planned NC 68 Connector, returning to US 220 south of Madison. The final section of I-73 in North Carolina will again be a relocation and upgrade of US 220.