US 1 and 117 in North Carolina

US 1 in North Carolina

According to itypejob, US 1 is a US Highway in the US state of North Carolina. The road forms a north-south connection in the east of the state and runs from Cordova on the border with South Carolina via the capital Raleigh to the border with Virginia at Wise. The route is 264 kilometers long and a motorway on various routes.

Travel directions

The US 1 at Moncure.

South of Cordova, US 1 crosses the South Carolina – North Carolina border and then continues as a single-lane trunk road to Rockingham, where it intersects US 74. The road then continues to Southern Pines, at Fort Bragg, after which US 1 becomes a highway. The rest of the route to Raleigh is a highway for 65 miles. At Sanford one crosses US 421, the road from Greensboro to Wilmington. One soon reaches the expanding urban area surrounding Raleigh, the state capital. Cary is the largest suburb with 128,000 inhabitantswhich US 1 runs east of. US 1 widens here to 2×4 lanes. One then crosses Interstate 40, the highway from Greensboro and Durham to Wilmington. US 1 then becomes Interstate 440 which forms the ring road of Raleigh. On the northeast side of Raleigh, US 1 rejoins as a 2×2 lane highway. It then crosses Interstate 540, the outer ring of Raleigh. The road then continues in 2×2 lanes to Henderson, where there is another short highway section to Interstate 85. US 1 then parallels I-85 to the Virginia border at the village of Wise.

History

The predecessor of US 1 was the Capital Highway, an auto trail that was established in 1909 as a connection between Washington and Atlanta. This roughly followed the corridor of the later US 1. In 1911 another auto trail was organized in this route, the Atlantic Highway that ran from Québec to Miami. The first road numbering was introduced in 1922, when much of the route was renumbered State Route 50, which originally reached the Virginia border via Roanoke Rapids a little further east. A year later, NC-50’s route was changed to the Virginia border near Wise. In 1926, the entire NC-50 became part of US 1.

Freeway upgrades

About 1957 the Sanford highway bypass was opened. In 1963, the highway between Apex and Raleigh was opened, serving primarily the suburb of Cary. The highway section around Henderson was constructed between 1991 and 1993. The section between Sanford and Apex was upgraded to a freeway in the mid-1990s. On June 1, 2005, the doubled and semi-level grade US 1 opened between Southern Pines and Sanford.

Future

There are plans to develop a freeway 20 kilometers from US 1 north of Raleigh. The project runs from I-540 in Raleigh to Youngstown north of Raleigh.

Traffic intensities

Every day, 3,500 vehicles pass the South Carolina border, rising to 15,000 through Rockingham. After Rockingham, there are 5,000 vehicles per day, but intensities are gradually increasing towards the Raleigh region, with 30,000 vehicles on the Southern Pines bypass, 25,000 vehicles on the Sanford bypass and 28,000 to 31,000 vehicles as far as Apex. On the highway stretch from Apex to Raleigh, intensities rise from 60,000 to 115,000 vehicles at I-40, US 1’s busiest point in North Carolina.

In the northern neighborhoods of Raleigh, 25,000 to 40,000 vehicles a day, then US 1 has a longer route with around 40,000 vehicles a day in the urban area north of Raleigh. After Franklinton, this drops to 15,000 vehicles per day, eventually dropping to about 6,000 vehicles per day near I-85 at Henderson. About 2,000 vehicles a day cross the Virginia border every day.

US 117 in North Carolina

According to itypeusa, US 117 is a US Highway in the United States, located entirely in the state of North Carolina. It is an auxiliary route of US 17. The road runs from the coastal city of Wilmington to Wilson, a north-south junction in the east of the state. The road runs parallel to Interstate 40 for a large part and is 183 kilometers long.

Travel directions

US 13/117 at Goldsboro.

US 117 begins in the ports of Wilmington, and initially runs east along Shipyard Boulevard which has 4 to 6 lanes of traffic. The road then veers north, intersecting US 76 to the east of the city. A little further, in the north of the city, you cross the US 74. The road then crosses the terminus of Interstate 40, which runs to Raleigh. US 117 then begins a parallel route north. North of Wilmington crosses Interstate 140, the northern bypass, over which US 17 also runs. US 117 is then a single-lane main road parallel to I-40 for about 110 kilometers.

One passes through a largely wooded area, along a somewhat populated corridor, dotted with villages. To the east is the Holly Shelter Swamp and the Angola Swamp, two large wetlands. After Faison, I-40 veers northwest, and US 117 turns northeast as a 2×2 trunk road to Goldsboro, a town of 38,000. Here you cross US 70, the 2×2 highway from Raleigh to New Bern. US 117 then parallels, or over, Interstate 795 to Wilson, a newer highway. US 117 ends at US 264, the east-west highway from Raleigh to Wilson and Greenville. The US 301 that comes from Fayetteville also runs here.

History

US 117 at Wilmington.

The current US 117 was the second US 117 to be created and was added to the network in 1932. The route then ran from Conway, South Carolina to Wilson, North Carolina. In 1934, the starting point was changed to the coastal city of Wilmington, North Carolina. The route from Wilmington to Wilson used to be known as US 17-1 for a while. The route has since been slightly modified at Wilmington and Wilson.

A bypass was built at Goldsboro in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, a new route was constructed between Faison and Goldsboro, which was widened to 2×2 lanes in the 1980s. With the construction of I-40, a diversion of Faison was also realized, which was opened around 1995. In 1990-1992, I-40 was constructed parallel to US 117 between Wilmington and Faison, so that this route no longer has any significance for through traffic. In 2006, Interstate 795 opened to traffic between Goldsboro and Wilson, paralleling US 117.