rerouted to run along College Road along a concurrency with NC 132. The highway then diverged from College Road at Shipyard Boulevard which it followed until reaching the port. As early as 1993, North Carolina State Highway maps indicated a proposed freeway bypass of US 117 running between Goldsboro and Wilson. Upon its completion in September 2006, US 117 was rerouted to follow the new freeway. The US 117/US 301 concurrency was eliminated and the US 117/US 264 concurrency was shorted to . The former alignment of US 117 through Goldsboro, Pikeville, and Fremont became US 117 Alternate. Trucks larger than were not allowed to utilize the new freeway. The Surface Transportation Assistance Act specifies that trucks over in length can utilize only Interstate Highways and specific routes approved by the state. As a result, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) sought approval from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to sign the freeway as I-795. The original application to AASHTO detailed that US 117 would run concurrently with I-795 for its entire length. The request was initially denied, as the freeway connected with US 264 before connecting with I-95. North Carolina appealed the decision, and on October 12, 2007, the Federal Highway Administration designated I-795 along the freeway between Goldsboro and I-95. The highway was officially redesignated as I-795 on April 22, 2009. US 117 was shifted onto its former alignment through Goldsboro and Pikeville, ending at its modern-day northern terminus at US 301. In July 2017, NCDOT awarded a contract to ST Wooten to build two interchanges along US 117 at Country Club Drive and Oberry Road. The project is part of a larger project to improve US 117 to Interstate Highway standards between I-40 and Goldsboro. The project was completed in the Spring of 2020. Future NCDOT is planning to improve roughly of US 117 between I-40 in Sampson County and I-795 in Goldsboro to Interstate Highway standards. The segment is proposed as a southern extension of I-795 and is listed as Federal High Priority Corridor 81. As of December 19, 2020, four of the six project segments are currently funded in the 2020-2029 State Transportation Improvement Projects (STIP). Initial public meetings for the project occurred in November and December 2019. Right of way acquisition between Country Club Road and Genoa Road in Wayne County is expected to begin in 2024. In