Several Johnston County highways will get new names this winter. Here’s why.
Johnston County residents will need to adapt to some new highway names in the coming months.
It all starts with the renaming of a 10-mile stretch of U.S. 70, the Clayton Bypass. It’s scheduled to become Interstate 42 in mid-February, part of a new interstate highway that will run from I-40 east to Morehead City as U.S. 70 is upgraded.
I-42 will branch off from I-40 a few miles from where both highways cross what is now N.C. 42. To avoid confusion, the N.C. Department of Transportation has decided to change N.C. 42 to N.C. 36 in western Johnston County, including the interchange many refer to as simply 40/42.
N.C. 36 will be less than 9 miles long, from N.C. 50 to the east side of Clayton. It will take a slightly different route around Clayton, following I-42 to the Ranch Road exit before becoming N.C. 42 again where it crosses U.S. 70 Business.
The highway will remain N.C. 42 west of Johnston County to Asheboro and east of Clayton to Ahoskie.
Speaking of U.S. 70 Business, that is going away. It will revert to simply U.S. 70, its name before the Clayton Bypass opened in 2008. Homes and businesses along the road through town kept the same address numbers back then and will keep them again.
Along with the introduction of N.C. 36, the section of what is now N.C. 42 between N.C. 50 and downtown Clayton will become Veterans Parkway, a name chosen by Johnston County commissioners. Drivers approaching the exit from I-42 will see signs that say both Veterans Parkway and N.C. 36, according to NCDOT spokesman Andrew Barksdale.
That exit is currently No. 320, indicating that it’s 320 miles from where U.S. 70 enters North Carolina from Tennessee. The exit and mile markers along the Clayton Bypass will change to indicate the distance from the start of I-42. The Veterans Parkway exit, for example, will be No. 4.
Similar exit and mile marker changes have already taken place along the 20-mile Goldsboro bypass in Wayne and Lenoir counties, which became I-42 last month.
The bridges, exit and entrance ramps and shoulders of both bypasses were built to federal interstate standards, allowing them to become the first sections of I-42. The N.C. Department of Transportation plans to eventually upgrade the rest of U.S. 70 between I-40 and Morehead City so the entire road can become I-42.
This story was originally published December 31, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Several Johnston County highways will get new names this winter. Here’s why.."
