The Expressway at this time was redesignated as Green 40. Eventually the exits were renumbered, starting with 1 on the west side, in the mid-1990s. The road's most anachronistic feature was the Hawthorne Curve, a tightish curve immediately south of the downtown area and west of the U.S. 52 freeway. Construction to straighten out the Hawthorne Curve began in the late 1990s, but many older features of the road remain. If you like your freeways with a lot of character, though, Green 40's time is running out.
Funding is in place to rehabilitate the entire road.
Neither project explicilty mentions adding lanes. A better idea is to sign the freeway as a 3-digit interstate once upgrades to the road are complete. It could be called I-840, but that's the only even x40 left for the state to use, so 840 should be conserved. There's no better way to flaunt I-74 than to name a 3di after it. North Carolina Department of Transportation.