Interstate 240 (North Carolina)

==History==
In the early 1960s, the east–west freeway around downtown Asheville, designated US&nbsp;19/US&nbsp;23, opened from the [[Beaucatcher Tunnel]] westward to [[NC 191]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vahighways.com/ncannex/route-log/us019.html|title=NCRoads.com: U.S. 19|access-date=July 4, 2013}}</ref>{{self-published source|date=February 2023}}

By 1966, Hanover Street had been converted to a freeway, which carried [[U.S. Route 19 Business (Asheville, North Carolina)|U.S. Highway&nbsp;19 Business]] (US&nbsp;19 Bus.)/[[U.S. Route 23 Business (Asheville, North Carolina)|US&nbsp;23 Bus.]]/NC&nbsp;191; additional freeway was constructed from Haywood Street to I-40. In 1968, eastbound lanes were added to the Smoky Park Bridge, the main connector across the [[French Broad River]]. The original lanes, opened January&nbsp;23, 1952, became westbound lanes.<ref>"I-240/I-26 Bridges Set to Be Replaced," ''Asheville Citizen-Times'', September 18, 2012, p. B1.</ref><ref name=Barrett1>Mark Barrett, "Smoky Park Bridge could be renamed for Asheville firefighter," ''[[Asheville Citizen-Times]]'', December 28, 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2019/10/02/portrait-past-west-asheville-bridge-demolition-1951|title=Portrait of the Past: West Asheville Bridge demolition, 1951|first=Rob|last=Neufeld|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|date=October 2, 2019|access-date=October 17, 2019}}</ref>

The next step began with the 1964 presentation by J. O. "Buck" Buchanan to the NC Highway Commission Board. An Interstate Highway was to be built from the east to downtown Asheville to connect with the existing freeway. The best way to do this, it was concluded, was to blast an {{convert|800|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} passage through [[Beaucatcher Mountain]]. The Beaucatcher Mountain Defense Association, formed in the early 1970s, endorsed a [[tunnel]], which would mean only about five percent of the mountain would be disturbed. In 1977, the [[North Carolina Department of Transportation]] (NCDOT) selected Asheville Contracting Co. for the project. {{convert|3|e6cuft|e6m3|spell=In}} of rock, including [[greywacke]] believed to be one billion years old, would have to be moved, and all of it could be used in the construction. The company had several connections to those responsible for the road plan: company president Baxter Taylor was a business partner of Ted Jordan, a highway board member and a member of the Chamber of Commerce Highway Committee; they founded Hyde Insurance Company, which sold $39.9&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|39900000|1977}}}} in {{inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{inflation/fn|US-GDP}}) in [[Bond (finance)|bonds]] to finance the plan. And Buchanan went on to work in public relations for Asheville Contracting. One of the Defense Association's arguments was the highway's proximity to [[Zealandia (Asheville, North Carolina)|Zealandia]], the estate of Philip Henry, whose [[Tudor style architecture|Tudor]] mansion was covered by the 1966 [[National Historic Preservation Act]]. However, when the mansion was named to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on March&nbsp;14, 1977, the destruction of the mountain had started.<ref>Rob Neufeld, "Visiting Our Past: I-240 Passage Reminds Us How Great Things Were Done," ''Asheville Citizen-Times'', April 1, 2009.</ref><ref>Rob Neufeld, "Visiting Our Past: Mountain's Majesty Yielded to Transportation Necessity," ''Asheville Citizen-Times'', April 8, 2009.</ref><ref>Rob Neufeld, "Portraits of the Past," Asheville Citizen-Times, April 4, 2014, p. 1D.</ref> The {{convert|4|mi|km|spell=in|adj=on}} project was completed October&nbsp;31, 1980.<ref name=Neufeld2016>{{cite news|url=http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/10/30/visiting-our-past-marking-ashevilles-anniversaries/92898228/|first=Rob|last=Neufeld|title=Visiting Our Past: Marking Asheville's anniversaries|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|date=October 30, 2016|access-date=October 30, 2016}}</ref>

In 1971, NC&nbsp;191 was extended along part of the unsigned freeway from Haywood Street to Brevard Road. On November&nbsp;1, 1980, I-240 was officially established on the western half of the freeway from I-40 to Charlotte Street; NC&nbsp;191 was rerouted north along Brevard Road to its current terminus at Haywood Street. By 1982, I-240 was extended through the Beaucatcher Cut onto new freeway east to I-40. In 1995, all of I-240 was named the [[Billy Graham]] Freeway.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= North Carolina Department of Transportation |url= https://connect.ncdot.gov/resources/safety/Route%20Changes/1980_11_01.pdf |title= I-240 (1980-11-01)|date= November 1, 1980 |access-date= July 4, 2013}}</ref><ref>Mark Barrett, "Hewitt bridge south of Asheville still important to his family," ''Asheville Citizen-Times'', April 1, 2012.</ref>

In 1989, the [[North Carolina General Assembly]] approved a plan for urban loops around the state's major cities. Included in this plan was a bypass for Asheville, which included an "I-26 Connector" to link two sections of [[Interstate 26 in North Carolina|I-26]], one ending south of Asheville, and the other north of the city designated "Future&nbsp;26". For the controversial plan, $14.2&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|14200000|1989}}}} in {{inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{inflation/fn|US-GDP}}) was spent, but, in 2010, the I-26 Connector was demoted to last among 21 urban loop projects. Improvements to I-240 were scheduled for 2020.<ref name=Boyle/>

On April&nbsp;5, 2012, the [[North Carolina Board of Transportation]] voted unanimously to rename the Smoky Park Bridge for Capt. Jeffrey Bowen, an Asheville [[firefighter]] who died in July&nbsp;2011 fighting a fire. The board's policy traditionally prohibited naming state roads and bridges for firefighters, but numerous protests of the state's March decision led to the change.<ref>Mark Barrett, "Asheville firefighter's name to go on Smoky Park Bridge," ''Asheville Citizen-Times'', April 6, 2012.</ref><ref name=Barrett1/> North Carolina Department of Transportation statistics show the eight-lane bridge to be the most traveled section of highway in Western North Carolina, with 99,000 vehicles a day.<ref name=Boyle>{{cite news|url=http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20131103/COLUMNISTS09/311030079/Boyle-Officer-s-death-highlights-bridge-dangers|title=Asheville police officer's death highlights dangers of Bowen Bridge|last=Boyle|first=John|work=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]]|date=November 3, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.citizen-times.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/05/26/view-bowen-bridge-design-decision-welcome-move/84971442/|title=Our view: Bowen Bridge design decision a welcome move|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|date=May 26, 2016}}</ref>

===Future===
A planned construction project, dubbed the I-26 Connector, is a $600–800-million project to build the missing gap of I-26 through Asheville. Broken into three sections, they are all planned and funded in the 2016–2025 STIP. Section&nbsp;A, between Haywood Road and Brevard Road, will be a widening project with reconfiguration of ramps at Haywood, Amboy and Brevard. Section&nbsp;B, between north of Haywood Road to [[U.S. Route 19 in North Carolina|US&nbsp;19]]/US&nbsp;23/[[U.S. Route 70 in North Carolina|US&nbsp;70]], is the most expensive section of the project at $332&nbsp;million.  After a review of various alternative designs, both state and federal agencies chose ''Alternative&nbsp;4B'', which will convert Patton Avenue along Bowen Bridges to local traffic and reroute I-240 along I-26 further north.<ref name="Barrett">{{cite news |last= Barrett |first= Mark |date= May 19, 2016 |title= Connector route taking traffic off Bowen Bridge picked |url= http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/05/18/connector-route-taking-traffic-off-bowen-bridge-picked/84564592/ |newspaper= [[Asheville Citizen-Times]] |access-date= May 19, 2016 }}</ref> Section&nbsp;C, the I-26/I-240/I-40 interchange, will be reconfigured to include missing ramp connects and a widening of I-40 through the area. The approximately {{convert|7|mi|km|adj=on|spell=in}} project will begin right-of-way acquisition in 2019, with construction on all three sections in 2021.<ref name=I26conn>{{cite web |url= http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/i26connector/ |title= I-26 Connector, Asheville, NC |work= Project Details |publisher= North Carolina Department of Transportation |access-date=December 14, 2013}}</ref><ref name="I-26 Connector Visualization">{{cite web |url= https://vimeo.com/ursci/review/145667973/d06fb7bdc8 |title= I-26 Connector Visualization |publisher= North Carolina Department of Transportation |access-date=May 19, 2016}}</ref> Additional plans for I-240 in west Asheville call for its expansion from four lanes to eight lanes.<ref name="Kurumi">{{cite web|url=http://www.kurumi.com/roads/3di/i240.html|title=Kurumi - I-240|access-date=October 5, 2014}}</ref>{{self-published source|date=February 2023}}

As part of the [[Interstate 26 in North Carolina|I-26 Connector]], in 2016, both state and federal agencies chose ''Alternative&nbsp;4B'', which will convert Patton Avenue along Bowen Bridge to local traffic and reroute I-240 along I-26 further north.<ref name="Barrett"/> In addition, the I-26/I-240/I-40 interchange, will be reconfigured to include missing ramp connects and a widening of I-40 through the area. The approximately {{convert|7|mi|km|adj=on|spell=in}} project planned to begin right-of-way acquisition in 2019,<ref name="I26conn"/><ref name="I-26 Connector Visualization"/> though delays included state money and worries over how neighborhoods would be affected. Contracts are to be awarded in 2023 and 2024 and construction to take three to five years. The estimated cost increased from $750 million in 2017 to $1.2 billion in 2023.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2023/01/12/what-is-the-status-of-the-asheville-i-26-connector/69798658007/|title=Answer Man: Asheville I-26 connector project update?|last=Burgess|first=Joel|work=Asheville Citizen-Times|date=February 12, 2023}}</ref>