WASHINGTON, August 6, 2003—A key section of the planned 3,025-mile Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS)—the North Carolina portion of Corridor B—has been completed. With the recent completion of a last, 9-mile segment of North Carolina's portion of Corridor B, the corridor now provides a direct north-south connection through Appalachia from Ohio to South Carolina. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) provided approximately 80 percent of the funding for the $250 million, 9-mile highway project in North Carolina.

As part of the ADHS, Corridor B provides the Appalachian Region with access to the nation's interstate highway system; it connects with four major east-west highways, I-40, I-64, I-70, and I-81.

ARC Federal Co-Chair Anne B. Pope underscored the importance of this corridor to the Region's economic development. "This marks the completion of a major stretch of highway that puts goods made in North Carolina and east Tennessee within reach of major population centers along the East Coast and in the Midwest. The corridor's benefits will not only include new jobs and business opportunities. They will also include saved lives and reduced crashes, shortened travel time, and increased tourism. ARC is proud to have been a partner with North Carolina throughout the planning, design, and construction of this important highway project."

The Appalachian Development Highway System is a federally funded economic development highway system envisioned to create economic opportunity by overcoming the Appalachian Region's isolation. Over 2,400 miles of the ADHS are now open to traffic, and another 130 miles are under construction.

By 1995, completed portions of ADHS corridors had helped create a net total of 16,000 jobs. Over $1 billion in value has been added to the Region's economy because of those completed corridor segments; that figure is projected to increase to $2.9 billion by 2015.

For every dollar invested in constructing the highway, the Region's economy receives $1.32 in economic benefits.