Drivers on Winston-Salem's southeast side got a new option on their commute Saturday, as two final segments of the Northern Beltway opened to traffic, completing a 17.1-mile loop that connects U.S. 52, U.S. 421, Interstate 40, and existing I-74 around the eastern half of the city. The segments span roughly 3 miles and arrived approximately three months ahead of the latest schedule.
A $387 Million Final Push
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the newly finished stretch cost $387 million. The work included 12 new bridge structures, a Diverging Diamond interchange at Kernersville Road, nine culverts, and five sound barrier walls.
Beyond the new freeway lanes themselves, crews widened 2.8 miles of existing Interstate 40 to three lanes in each direction and widened and resurfaced 2 miles of N.C. 192, per the agency's release. N.C. 192 had served as the former I-74 connector to I-40 before the new segments opened.
Relief for a Congested Urban Core
NCDOT Division 9 Engineer John Rhyne said the Beltway would relieve traffic from I-40, U.S. 421, U.S. 311, and U.S. 52. The project is intended to ease congestion on those major routes through Winston-Salem.
A Price Tag That Kept Climbing
The early opening caps off a project whose cost ballooned over nearly two decades of planning and construction. State transportation data cited by the Winston-Salem Chronicle shows the estimated cost of the 17.1-mile Eastern Loop rose from $694.7 million in a 2008 estimate to $1.067 billion in 2026, a 54% increase over 18 years.
Much of that delay traces back to a long legal fight over North Carolina's Transportation Corridor Official Map Act, which allowed the state to restrict building permits on land designated for future highways without immediately acquiring the property. According to Ward and Smith, P.A., the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled on February 17, 2015, in Kirby v. North Carolina Department of Transportation that corridor protection map restrictions constituted a taking requiring just compensation.
Built in Pieces Over Six Years
The Eastern Loop did not open all at once. Per Malme Roads, construction unfolded in phased stages over six years, starting with a six-lane section between Salem Parkway and Reidsville Road in September 2020, followed by an opening to U.S. 311 that December, a stretch to University Parkway in November 2022, and a segment reaching U.S. 52 in November 2023.
That incremental approach means Saturday's opening marks the finish line for only half of the full Northern Beltway concept. Construction on the 17.4-mile Western Loop, the future I-274 corridor running from U.S. 158 to U.S. 52, has been pushed back in state transportation plans, with initial construction not expected to begin until 2030 or later, according to the same Malme Roads account. That means the complete 34.5-mile ring around Winston-Salem remains years from realization, even as drivers on the eastern side finally get the relief officials have promised for decades.
