page_title: Interstate 73
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 73 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Begin of I-73/I-74, along US 220 at exit 25, south of Ellerbe, North Carolina.
context_page_description: Interstate 73 is a north–south Interstate Highway, located within the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is part of a longer planned corridor, defined by various federal laws to run from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, but only the part south of West Virginia is under study as of 2012. The corridor passes through the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Michigan. Ohio and Michigan do not plan to build any part of the highway, as the I-73 corridor in both of these states is already served by existing freeways or four-lane highways that will eventually be upgraded to freeways. West Virginia is building its section, mostly along U.S. Highway 52, as a four-lane divided highway, but not meeting the Interstate Highway standards. On the other hand, North Carolina and South Carolina have built sections and Virginia plans to build its part. Thus Interstate 73 will, once scheduled projects are completed, run from South Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia, where it will end at Interstate 81.
context_section_description: In 1979, K.A. Ammar, a Bluefield, West Virginia businessman, started the Bluefield-to-Huntington Highway Association in order to widen US 52, a very dangerous two-lane road used to transport coal from mines to barges on the Ohio River. With coal employment in decline and the desire to bring in other businesses, Ammar worked to get the road improved. In 1989, Bluefield State College Professor John Sage learned of plans to add more Interstate Highways. Ammar and Sage came up with the idea for a road that would be called I-73, to run from Detroit to Charleston, South Carolina. Ammar and others promoted the idea to the people of Portsmouth, Ohio, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
  In 1991, as Congress worked on reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Act, the people from West Virginia worked to get I-73 approved; the highway would run alongside US 52. The influential Robert Byrd, at the time West Virginia's senior senator, chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee, but even Byrd said funding for such a highway would be hard to find. In North Carolina, Marc Bush of the Greensboro Area Chamber of Commerce admitted the plan would benefit his area, but said it was not a priority.
  The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) defined High Priority Corridor 5, the "I-73/74 North–South Corridor" from Charleston, South Carolina, through Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Portsmouth, Ohio, to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan." This would provide for a single corridor from Charleston, splitting at Portsmouth, with I-74 turning west to its current east end in Cincinnati, and I-73 continuing north to Detroit.
  In North Carolina, any new construction would require more money than the state had available, but Walter C. Sprouse Jr., executive director of the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation pointed out that most of the route of I-73 included roads already scheduled for improvements that would make them good enough for interstate designation. A connector between I-77 and US 52 at Mt. Airy was planned, and US 52 from Mt. Airy to Winston-Salem and US 311 from Winston-Salem to High Point were four-lane divided highways. A US 311 bypass of High Point was planned, which would eventually connect to US 220 at Randleman. I-73 would follow US 220 to Rockingham. Another possibility was following I-40 from Winston-Salem to Greensboro. In Winston-Salem, congestion on US 52 was expected to be a problem. The route through High Point was approved in May 1993.
  However, by November of that year, an organization called Job Link, made up of business leaders from northern North Carolina and southern Virginia, wanted a major highway to connect Roanoke with the Greensboro area. It could be I-73, the group said, but did not have to be. In April 1995, John Warner, who chaired the Senate subcommittee that would select the route of I-73, announced his support for the Job Link proposal. This distressed Winston-Salem officials who were counting on I-73, though Greensboro had never publicly sought the road. But an aide to US Senator Lauch Faircloth said the 1991 law authorizing I-73 required the road to go through Winston-Salem. Faircloth got around this requirement, though, by asking Warner to call the highway to Winston-Salem I-74. In May, Warner announced plans to propose legislation that made the plan for two Interstates official.
  The National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 added a branch from Toledo, Ohio, to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, via the US 223 and US 127 corridors. (At the time, US 127 north of Lansing was part of US 27.) It also gave details for the alignments in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. I-73 and I-74 were to split near Bluefield, West Virginia, joining again between Randleman and Rockingham, North Carolina; both would end at Charleston. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved the sections of I-73 and I-74 south of I-81 in Virginia (with I-74 ending at I-73 near Myrtle Beach) on July 25, 1996, allowing for them to 
caption: I-73/I-74 begin near Ellerbe, NC
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