Our newest Interstate moves forward
- September 13, 2024
- Posted by: Joe Milazzo II
- Category: Blog
RTA members and partners,
We have been pushing for the completion of Interstate 87 from Raleigh to Rocky Mount and up to southeastern Virginia, and we have been pleased to see ongoing progress for that corridor. However, there are other critical new Interstate freeways in our extended region that remain important to the regional business community.
One of those is Interstate 42, which will connect the Garner and Clayton area to Morehead City. This week, NCDOT announced that the first 20 miles of the freeway will be signed in the Goldsboro area, linking with I-795 in Goldsboro and I-95 at Wilson.
A few months later, 10 additional miles will be added to the Interstate 42 mileage, from the western terminus of I-42 at the I-40 interchange — which is also where 540 will connect later this month — heading east past Clayton, towards Smithfield and Selma.
We have been highlighting the importance of I-42 for several years, and we are very pleased that 30 miles of new Interstate 42 signage will soon be added to the freeway network in our extended metropolitan area. This means that more than 50% of the US 70 corridor mileage between the I-40/540 interchange in the Garner and Clayton area along the Wake/Johnston county line to La Grange in Lenoir County will soon be signed as Interstate 42.
This is another important win for regional and intercity mobility, in a series of wins for central and eastern North Carolina. The regional business community thanks NCDOT for their leadership, and for their ongoing work to upgrade the rest of the US 70 east corridor to Interstate standards.
Let’s get moving,
Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA executive director
