North Carolina Roads - I-73/I-840

I-73 and Future I-73/I-840



Joseph M. Bryan Blvd. WB at the early '10s northern end of I-73 near Piedmont Triad International Airport, with stubs for future continuation toward Virginia. The first overpass will become the EB-NB ramp, and the second one is already in use for NB-WB traffic (including airport travelers). The ending lane comes in from Fleming Rd. and will drop onto the future WB-NB ramp. The last few photos show the NB-WB ramp arcing around everything and over the graded but unpaved mainline. The SB side will have a C-D road due to the weave between WB-SB and SB-EB traffic; the interchange is geared toward the airport, so there are no loops or weaves for that traffic.


Around the Bryan Blvd. WB loop ramp to the I-73 SB C-D road. This is still Future I-73 north of I-40, the nearest connecting route that AASHTO would accept for an ending (generally, Interstates and National Highway System US routes), and also Future I-840, pending most of that beltway being constructed eventually. The first photo shows the future SB-WB ramp merging into the current NB-WB ramp.


Looking north and east at the NB-WB flyover, with the future EB-NB flyover just behind it in the second photo.


Continuing south from the stub beginning of the C-D road under Bryan Blvd. to the future EB-NB flyover. You can clearly see the stub of the future loop ramp that will weave with the one I just came down.


Looking south at Old Oak Ridge Rd. and north at the whole Bryan Blvd. complex, and missing the mainline.


Hey, there it is! Yay!


Looking north at the mainline stub. "Exit 3" is clearly visible, showing that I-840's exit numbering will dominate when the two routes are multiplexed.


As I said, I-73 proper begins at I-40. It seems like something's missing from the Exit 1 sign, between those two shields, but I bet my next caption will explain all. (Short answer: it's EAST Business I-40, with a WEST above the I-40 shield. The top line of the left sign read EAST 40 / SOUTH 73.) I do know something that should be missing - one of the two sets of arrows.


On the left and right sides of the road along I-73 SB. Although 73 and newly opened I-85 form the southern half of the bypass to be completed as I-840, it appears that the 840 designation will not be applied here. I-40 followed this bypass briefly back in 2007, but was coerced into returning to the old road by the FHWA, who kindly informed NCDOT that only highways with Interstate designations can get Federal funding. If they knew this a few years earlier, Business I-85 probably would have been I-685 to keep something on the now-former I-85. Anyway, this makes an excellent detour for I-40 and US 421 traffic regardless of the state of construction on I-40/US 421 in Greensboro.


Courtesy Lou Corsaro, a rare state name thanks to a mall shield and a pair of photos that are related to my two previous captions. These date to the brief period when I-40 followed the bypass, so were completely accurate at the time. They were exiting the Wendover Place Mall and then on Wendover Ave. WB. The LGS is now wrong and backwards, as I-40 has returned to the old freeway east of the mall, but the BGS may still be there. The only change needed is to get rid of "East I-40" on the left sign, and probably to get rid of "West" on the right sign (since I-40 is the next interchange). The last line on the right sign awaits an extension of I-73.

Onto Future I-840 alone
US 220 and Future I-73


Exit 1 to I-40
Exit 1 or onto US 421
To I-85
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