| History: |
As is the case with I-240 around Asheville, I-440 was built in bits and pieces, and it was a freeway long before it was an interstate.
The first part of what's now I-440 opened in 1960 in conjunction with the US 1 freeway through southeast Chatham and southwest Wake counties, and originally ended at Hillsborough Street. Three years later, the Beltline was extended another eight miles to the north and east, ending at North Boulevard (today's Capital Boulevard). By now, US 1 completely bypassed downtown Raleigh and followed the same path that it does today.
The next section was a two-mile stretch from North  Boulevard to New Bern Avenue, opening in 1964 or early '65. At this point, the Beltline carried both US 1 and US 64 around Raleigh, but provisions were already made at its eastern end for an extension that would make the Beltline a complete loop around Raleigh, as seen in the photo to the right (click to expand).
When I-40 was finished south of downtown in 1984, most state and US highways were rerouted along the freeway, leaving no routes running through downtown Raleigh. The freeway was now a complete circle around Raleigh, but the designation of the freeway changed at any given point; US 1, 64, 70, 401, NC 50, and I-40 were all routed along at least part of the highway. No one in Wake County generally paid attention to the designations (except for I-40), simply referring to the entire route as the Beltline.
However, the sheer number of routes along the freeway made things more confusing than they probably should have been, so NCDOT gave the entire loop (including the I-40 stretch) the I-440 designation in 1991. Slowly, the routes that had been moved onto the Beltline in the mid-'80s were returned to run through downtown Raleigh, so that by 1996 the only routes still on the freeway at any point were I-40, I-440, US 1, and US 64.
Beginning in 1991, I-440 was widened nearly all the way around Raleigh. The first stretch to be widened, from Glen Eden Drive (between Lake Boone Trail and Ridge Road) to Wake Forest Road, was finished in 1993, and all but the first four miles of I-440 carried at least six lanes by 1997. The remaining four-lane stretch, from I-40 to Wade Avenue, will be widened by 2020. |
| Attractions: |
Runs very close to the State Fairgrounds at NC 54 and at Wade Avenue. In years gone by, people parked on the side of 440 for the State Fair, a practice now discouraged by the Highway Patrol. Other than that, however, it doesn't go past much.
The pedestrian bridge at Wade Avenue opened in 2005 as part of a greenway connecting Meredith College with Umstead State Park. |
| Comments: |
For a time, I-440 was the only Interstate in the country not signed with cardinal directions. Rather, it was officially Inner (clockwise) and Outer (counterclockwise) I-440. Another idea from the good-ideas-in-theory department, the Inner and Outer names caused more problems than they solved, and in 2009 the state officially retired the designations, to be replaced with East and West I-440.
At the same time as the designations changed, the part of I-440 that shared pavement with I-40 and US 64 south of downtown Raleigh was removed, so that the only stretch designated I-440 is the northern two-thirds of the loop.
Very few roads cross I-440 without an interchange of some sort. Of the 20 roads to cross the interstate, twelve have direct interchanges and an additional two come close to an interchange. |
