History
US 117, established in 1932, was a renumber of SR 40 between Wilmington and Wilson; it also continued south of Wilmington into South Carolina. By 1939, US 17 replaced US 117 south of Wilmington. In the 1950s, bypasses were established in Burgaw and Goldsboro. In the early 1960s, US 117 bypassed Calypso to Mount Olive; which was later extended in 1988 to Brogden.
In 2006, US 117 was moved onto a new freeway between Goldsboro and Wilson, its northern terminus ending at I-95. However, because of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act specifying that trucks over 48 feet (15 m) in length can utilize only Interstate and specific routes approved by the state; larger trucks were not legally allowed to use the new route. As a result, NCDOT decided to get it approved as an interstate as oppose to the longer process of adding it on the STAA system. AASHTO conditionally agreed to this on September 28, 2007; which gave birth to Interstate 795 and moved US 117 back to its original route (briefly renumbered as US 117 Alternate), ending at US 301 near Wilson.
Read more about this topic: U.S. Route 117
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