history of US 70? - misc.transport.road

Message from discussion history of US 70?

Craig Zeni

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More options Dec 1 2005, 7:13 pm

Newsgroups: misc.transport.road

From: Craig Zeni <Don.Cornel...@spammers.die>

Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 00:13:33 GMT

Local: Thurs, Dec 1 2005 7:13 pm

Subject: Re: history of US 70?

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Adam Prince wrote:
> "Mike Tantillo" <mjtanti...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1133117479.246138.112860@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...

>>Does anyone know anything about the history of US 70 in eastern NC?
>>Like what the route may have been numbered before it was US 70, when
>>were the bypasses of Kinston and Goldsboro completed, when and why the
>>limited access stretch west of New Bern was built, did it always end in
>>Atlantic, when it was 4-laned, etc? Anyone know any interesting random
>>facts about the road?

> Around 1980 was when the New Bern Freeway was built.

Under construction - paved and driveable with lines in summer of
1978...I know from, er, driving it before it was open in that summer :)
Rumor has it that this was done as part of the planning for I-40
heading toward Morehead City instead of Wilmington NC.

> In the early 90s, 70
> was being widened in the Selma/Smithfield area out to Princeton. Parts of
> it was widening the existing route and some on a new alignment. What is US
> 70 now is a result of that widening. US 70A was shortened to end just east
> of I-95. What was US 70 became 70 Business.

> Sometime in the late? 90s, what is now US 70 Bypass was built which bypassed
> the US 70/I-95 interchange. The Bypass is basically for thru traffic with
> no direct access to I-95. It is via exits to US 70 (or as I call it Vanilla
> 70).

> SD Rhodes and Brian LeBlanc tell how the part of US 70 that was bypassed in
> the late 90s was briefly called US 70 Business...but that only created
> confusion as there would be two Business US 70s within the segment.

> Years before that - US 70 West had followed what is now Business 70 into
> Smithfield then went North on US 301 to Selma and West towards Raleigh on
> what is now US 70.

> It would change sometime in the 50s (I'll have to dig through maps) to where
> US 70 followed business 70 through Smithfield...and US 70A would run through
> Selma. See above for how that changed.

> Then you throw in the idea in the 70s that I-40 was going to follow US 70
> more closely at least to Smithfield and possibly Morehead City.

> A map scan is here: http://www.gribblenation.com/ncpics/i40-1971.jpg (Source
> 1971 Rand
> McNally/Union 76 NC/SC) Similar alignments for I-40 show up from about
> 1970-1976 on various Gas maps.

> For those unfamiliar: I-40 runs more parallel to NC 50 to Benson today.

> In October, we had a brief thread in southeastroads about that proposals.

Do tell - where is this forum/list/?

> It will be in my next NC update (explaining the 4 US 70's of
> Selma/Smithfield) and also the information I have about the early proposed
> route of I-40 vs. the route it eventually took. I'm just needing some
> photos from that area to go along with what I have laid out already. (hint,
> hint).

More details on whatcha need?

CZ
NC

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