Seven deadliest stretches of highway in North Carolina

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) – A new analysis of deadly vehicle crashes on 5-mile stretches of highways shows two of North Carolina’s deadliest to be in Greensboro.

The study assimilated from national data between 2000 and 2019 by 1Point21, a contact marketing agency, showed that a stretch of U.S. 29 in East Greensboro and a slice of Interstate 40 through Greensboro were among those seven worst in the state.

The study was commissioned by, Nagle & Associates, a personal injury law firm based in Winston-Salem, but it is based on statistics provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about primary and secondary roads as defined by the U.S. Census.

Off ramp from US 29 to East Gate City Boulevard was closed because of an accident in Greensboro (WGHP/Nelson Kepley)

There were 26 crashes resulting in 26 deaths on U.S. 29 between Joe Brown Drive and East Florida Street, the report said. That’s the stretch of the highway from just north of the I-40 interchange to just south of Lakeview Memorial Park.

There were 21 crashes leading to 23 deaths between Mile Points 216 and 221 on I-40. That’s the stretch from the Wendover Avenue East exit to just east of the merger with I-85, which includes the intersections with U.S. 29 and Business 85.

The report found the top three deadliest roads to be two stretches of interstate highways in Charlotte and one in Asheville. A section of I-95 in Rocky Mount was fifth, and No. 7 was yet another stretch of interstate near Charlotte in Gastonia. They were:

• I-85 in Charlotte, between Exits 36 and 41, which had 39 crashes and 42 deaths.
• I-77 in charlotte, between Remount Road and Exit 13A, with 34 crashes and 38 deaths.
• I-240 in Asheville, between Exits 1B and 6, which had 27 crashes and 27 deaths.
• I-95 in Rocky Mount, between State Road 1603 and Exit 138, with had 24 crashes and 31 deaths.
• I-85 in Gastonia, between Exits 14 and 19, which had 21 fatal crashes and 21 deaths.

The survey provided an interactive map that plotted every deadline wreck across the state during that 20-year history. There were 12,030 fatal crashes leading to 13,282 deaths, based on the NHTSA data.