The North Carolina Department of Transportation has long planned to reroute the highway, currently running through central Mebane, to a new alignment further west.

However, in 1998 and 1999, civil rights complaints were filed by the West End Revitalization Association and other local residents against the Department of Transportation and city government over concerns about disproportionate impacts on predominantly African-American communities along the proposed route and longstanding dissatisfaction with access to municipal services.

[4] Although a four-year moratorium on the project was established in 1999, the Federal Highway Administration eventually granted approval in December 2009.

[5] A project that started in 1990 relocated NC 119 west of Mebane, creating a new 4 to 6-lane divided highway from I-40/I-85 to Mrs. White Lane (SR 1918).

The project was broken into two parts, with a combined estimate of $101.9 million; property acquisitions were expected after 2014.