CLAYTON – Several major routes in the Clayton/Garner area off Interstate 40 are getting new names and highway designation numbers.
The changes include:
- Ten miles of U.S. 70 between I-40 (Exit 309) and the U.S. 70 Business interchange will become Interstate 42.
- Almost 11 miles of N.C. 42 in this vicinity will be renumbered as N.C. 36 to avoid any potential confusion, because drivers in an emergency might use generic terms like “highway 42" or “route 42" when calling 911.
- Twelve miles of U.S. 70 Business between I-40 and I-42 will revert to U.S. 70, which was the original route number before the U.S. 70 “Clayton Bypass" opened over 15 years ago.
A contractor for the N.C. Department of Transportation is scheduled to begin making the sign changes on Monday. The work will take about three months to complete.
Preparations
The reason for the changes is the Federal Highway Administration has authorized the department's plan to redesignate U.S. 70 around Clayton as I-42. The designation to use I-42 as the new interstate number was set by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
The NCDOT has been coordinating with Johnston County and Clayton officials, and other local organizations, for at least the past two years to prepare for these routing changes, and the state agency has held two public meetings on the topic.
Local officials are taking this opportunity to assign street names to these two routes, which will remain NCDOT-maintained roads:
- The section of N.C. 42 between U.S. 70 Business in Clayton and the Wake-Johnston county line, west of N.C. 50, will be called Veterans Parkway, as this interactive map on the Town of Clayton website shows.
- The section of what is now U.S. 70 Business between the Wake-Johnston county line and its interchange with U.S. 70 will be named Clayton Boulevard.
Future I-42 is NCDOT's long-term goal is to upgrade U.S. 70 from I-40 to Morehead City to interstate standards . Last fall, 20 miles of the U.S. 70 Bypass around Goldsboro were re-signed as I-42. When that happened, the mile markers and exits numbers were changed, too. You can read more about future I-42 improvements here.