The beltway would make Winston-Salem the seventh city in North Carolina to have a full or partial Interstate loop; the other six are Asheville (I-240), Charlotte (I-485 and I-277), Raleigh (I-440 and I-540), Wilmington (I-140), Greensboro (I-840), and Fayetteville (I-295).
When completed as planned, the beltway will be approximately 30 miles (48 km) in length,[7] beginning in the east at I-74/NC 192 and ending in the west at U.S. Highway 158 (US 158).
As of November 2023, work is underway to extend the route in both directions, reaching west to US 52 at the northwestern end by Thanksgiving 2023 and south to meet the current I-40 and I-74 by 2025/2026.
Construction of the western segment of the beltway was to begin in 1999 but was delayed by a lawsuit aimed at the environmental impact statement (EIS).
A federal district judge in May 2010 dismissed the cases accusing an updated environmental study of ignoring global warming and impact on other intersecting roads.
[10] On September 7, 2011, North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue announced that construction of a part of the eastern leg of the beltway would begin in 2014.
[1] Since then, funding has been allocated to complete the remaining sections of NC 74 between US 52 and the current I-74 (formerly cosigned with US 311), starting with the segment between US 311 and US 158, known as Project U-2579C, in October 2017.
[3] The southbound exit and northbound entrance from US 52 on the fourth segment was scheduled to open to traffic on November 18, 2023; the rest of the interchange remains under construction.
If completed as planned, the Southern Beltway would serve as a connector for the communities of Midway, Wallburg, and Arcadia and would not necessarily be utilized as a bypass for I-40 due to the freeway's southward dip.
On May 20, 2019, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved a request to establish Future I-274.
Justification given by NCDOT was that the 16.83-mile (27.09 km) section would satisfy a great need to alleviate congestion in Winston-Salem and connect the western portion of the urbanized area.