On September 28, 2007, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) decided to approve the I-795 designation.

The state quickly began to renumber mileposts, update signs, and move US 117 back to its original designation.

After the I-42 interchange, I-795 begins to pass through the northern neighborhoods of Goldsboro before entering the eastern North Carolina countryside.

As the highway begins to get closer to Wilson it bears to the west once again to bypass Fremont, another small town north of Goldsboro.

[5] Rather than go through the time-consuming process to add the route to the STAA system, the state decided to get it approved as an Interstate.

The FHWA informed the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) that it would not approve the addition until a construction contract to correct a "high accident wet weather location" on the US 264 portion was underway.

[9] The North Carolina State Highway Patrol, which had begun ticketing overlength truckers on US 117 in mid-2007, stopped enforcing the ban on October 3, due to the AASHTO decision.

During the planning of the road, as early as 2003, some engineers had warned that the thin pavement would be inadequate for heavy truck traffic.

[13] Meanwhile, NCDOT started repairing the damaged portion of the road surface in October 2008, a process that was completed in about a month and cost around $600,000 (equivalent to $834,000 in 2023[12]).

The new state secretary of transportation, Gene Conti, said he would make a decision, taking the FHWA report into consideration, once he took office in early 2009.

He decided to abide by most recommendations of the report and announced in mid-2009 that a contract would be let that October with the project starting as early as November 2009.

The 3.9-mile (6.3 km), four-lane divided highway was opened on December 16, 2011, and connects I-795 with Wayne Memorial Drive north of Goldsboro.

The bypass now runs from its west end at US 70 from just west of NC 581 in Wayne County east to end at US 70 just east of Promise Land Road in Lenoir County, entirely part of I-42..[17] In 2012, the Eastern North Carolina NPO/RPO coalition proposed a southern extension of I-795 from its current terminus, south along US 117 and NC 403 to I-40 near Faison.