 Interstate 40 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Star Memorial Highway | ||||
 I-40 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by NCDOT | ||||
| Length | 420.21 mi[1] (676.26 km) | |||
| Existed | 1958[2]–present | |||
| NHS | Entire route | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  I-40 at the Tennessee state line | |||
| East end |   US 117 / NC 132 near Wilmington | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | North Carolina | |||
| Counties | Haywood, Buncombe, McDowell, Burke, Catawba, Iredell, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Alamance, Orange, Durham, Wake, Johnston, Sampson, Duplin, Pender, New Hanover | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Interstate 40 (I-40) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that travels 2,556.61 miles (4,114.46 km) from Barstow, California, to Wilmington, North Carolina. In North Carolina, I-40 travels 420.21 miles (676.26 km) across the entirety of the state from the Tennessee state line along the Pigeon River Gorge to U.S. Highway 117 (US 117) and North Carolina Highway 132 (NC 132) in Wilmington. I-40 is the longest Interstate Highway in North Carolina and is the only Interstate to completely span the state from west to east.[1]
Traveling from west to east, I-40 connects the three major regions of North Carolina—Western North Carolina, the Piedmont, and Eastern North Carolina. In the Piedmont region, I-40 connects the Piedmont Triad and Research Triangle metropolitan regions. Included in these regions are the cities of Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, and Winston-Salem which represent the second through fifth largest cities in the state, respectively. In addition, I-40 connects the cities of Asheville and Hickory in Western North Carolina, Wilmington in Eastern North Carolina, and many smaller communities along its route. The landscapes traversed by I-40 include the Blue Ridge Mountains, the foothills of Western North Carolina, suburban communities, and the urban core of several Piedmont cities, along with Eastern North Carolina farmland. There are five auxiliary Interstates in the state related to I-40: I-140, I-240, I-440, I-540, and I-840. I-40 formerly had one business loop which primarily ran through Winston-Salem and briefly was extended through Greensboro.
The freeway bears several names in addition to the I-40 designation. Throughout the state, the freeway is known as the Blue Star Memorial Highway, a name shared with multiple Interstates across the state. From the Guilford–Alamance county line to one mile (1.6 km) east of NC 54, in Graham, I-40 and I-85 is known as the Sam Hunt Freeway. From Orange County to Raleigh, I-40 is known as the Harriet Morehead Berry Freeway, John Motley Morehead III Freeway, and Tom Bradshaw Freeway. I-40 is the James Harrington Freeway from US 70 to I-95. In Duplin County, a section of I-40 is known as the Henry L. Stevens Jr. Highway. From the Pender–New Hanover county line to the eastern terminus of I-40, the freeway is known as the Michael Jordan Highway.
I-40 was an original Interstate Highway planned in the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. In North Carolina, the original highway was to run from the Tennessee state line to Greensboro where the freeway would end at I-85. In 1958, the first section of completed Interstate Highway in the state was I-40 along the East–West Expressway in Winston-Salem. I-40 received two extension approvals; the first in 1969 to I-95 to be routed in or near Smithfield and the second in 1984 to Wilmington. After 34 years since it first opened, the last section completed was the Winston-Salem Bypass in 1992. The highest point is at 2,786 feet (849 m), located at Swannanoa Gap, and the lowest point is at 15 feet (4.6 m), located at the Pender–New Hanover county line.
- ^ a b Starks, Edward (January 27, 2022). "Table 1: Main Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways". FHWA Route Log and Finder List. Federal Highway Administration. Archived from the original on July 3, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2023.
- ^ "I-40 Fact Sheet" (PDF). North Carolina Department of Transportation. June 21, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 21, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2014.