North Carolina Highway 344

NC 344
Route information
Maintained by NCDOT
Length:	19.2 mi (30.9 km)
Existed:	2006 – present
Major junctions
South end:	Pasquotank River near mouth to Albemarle Sound
	US 17 Bus. in Elizabeth City US 17 in Elizabeth City
North end:	US 17 in Elizabeth City
Location
Counties:	Pasquotank
Highway system
North Carolina Highway System ← NC 343 NC 345 →

NC 344 is a north–south state highway in coastal North Carolina; it is entirely in Pasquotank County.

Route description

The highway's southern terminus lies at the shores of the Pasquotank River near its mouth with the Albemarle Sound. NC 344 winds northwestward through rural Pasquotank County as the two-lane Salem Church and Weeksville Roads, becoming a four-lane with center turning lane thoroughfare at the main gate of Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City.

After having traveled for 14 miles, it enters the limits of Elizabeth City, where it when becomes Halstead Boulevard at its intersection with Herrington Avenue, adjacent to the campus of Elizabeth City State University. NC 344 continues on for another 5.2 miles, crossing US 17 Business and mainline US 17 before terminating at its junction with US 17 Bypass.

History

Weeksville Road, Herrington Avenue, Road and Water Streets through Elizabeth City, carried the designation of NC 170 from the 1950s, followed by NC 168 from 1958 to 1979, then most recently NC 34 before its conversion to NC 344 in 2006.

All three highways continued their route east of Elizabeth City, multiplexing with US 158 through Camden county until Belcross, with NC 170 and NC 168 continuing past Sligo, NC to the Virginia border. The creation of NC 34 in 1979 ran from the Pasquotank River to Sligo, with NC 168 running from the Virginia border to Barco, NC in Currituck County.

The previously unsigned Halstead Boulevard had become a major commercial corridor along the south side of Elizabeth City starting in the early 1990s. In 2006, NC 34 was truncated to the eastern third of its route from Belcross in Camden County to Sligo in Currituck County, leaving NC 344 to sign Weeksville Road and Halstead Boulevard to its new terminus with US 17 Bypass.