It serves as an urban connector for Asheville and runs in a semicircle around the north of the city's downtown district between exits 53B and 46B of I-40.

Between those points, I-40 continues in an east–west direction further south of the city, roughly parallel to the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers.

I-240 cross the Swannanoa River near Asheville Mall before terminating at an interchange with I-40 while the roadway continues on as US 74A, known locally as Charlotte Highway.

[citation needed] In the early 1960s, the east–west freeway around downtown Asheville, designated US 19/US 23, opened from the Beaucatcher Tunnel westward to NC 191.

[2][self-published source] By 1966, Hanover Street had been converted to a freeway, which carried U.S. Highway 19 Business (US 19 Bus.

In 1968, eastbound lanes were added to the Smoky Park Bridge, the main connector across the French Broad River.

Three million cubic feet (0.085×10^6 m3) 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.

One of the Defense Association's arguments was the highway's proximity to Zealandia, the estate of Philip Henry, whose Tudor mansion was covered by the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act.

[11][12] In 1989, the North Carolina General Assembly approved a plan for urban loops around the state's major cities.

[13] On April 5, 2012, the North Carolina Board of Transportation voted unanimously to rename the Smoky Park Bridge for Capt.

[19][self-published source] As part of the I-26 Connector, in 2016, both state and federal agencies chose Alternative 4B, which will convert Patton Avenue along Bowen Bridge to local traffic and reroute I-240 along I-26 further north.

The approximately seven-mile (11 km) project planned to begin right-of-way acquisition in 2019,[17][18] though delays included state money and worries over how neighborhoods would be affected.