In a nutshell, the Strategic Highway Corridors are a set of primarily existing highways vital to moving people and goods to destinations within and just outside North Carolina. The corridors include 55 major or "parent" corridors along with the associated "spurs" (denoted by letters), totaling 5,378 center-line miles, including all existing and proposed interstates.

These corridors only account for approximately 7% (6.82%) of the entire state-maintained highway system (78,844 miles), yet they carry approximately 45% (45.4%) of the state's traffic (39,417,784,000 VMT of out 86,873,796,000 VMT statewide).

"Spurs" include interstate loops and spurs, business interstates, and other major facilities that connect the parent corridor to the activity center or destination. This includes connections to the central business districts of major cities, airports, military bases, and state ports. The selection of these corridors was coordinated with Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee to ensure connectivity to the appropriate facilities across North Carolina's borders.

View the Strategic Highway Corridors List (404 KB).