U.S. Route 1 in North Carolina

infobox road
state=NC
type=US
route=1
length_mi=174
length_ref=American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, [http://cms.transportation.org/?siteid=68&pageid=1760 United States Numbered Highways] , 1989 Edition]
length_round=0
formed=1926
direction_a=South
direction_b=North
starting_terminus=
junction= in Raleigh
ending_terminus=
previous_type=NC
previous_route=905
next_type=NC
next_route=2In the U.S. state of North Carolina, U.S. Route 1 is a major north-south state highway west of Interstate 95, passing along the fall line through Laurinburg, Southern Pines, Sanford, Raleigh, and Henderson. North of Henderson, US 1 is paralleled by Interstate 85, but the rest of the route is an independent corridor, upgraded to a divided highway or freeway in most areas. [North Carolina Department of Transportation, [http://www.ncdot.org/it/img/DataDistribution/StateTravelMap/default.html State Travel Map] , 2007]

Route description

From the South Carolina state line, US 1 passes through Rockingham, Southern Pines and Sanford. In stretches in Aberdeen and Sanford, the highway shares its route with US 15-501. From Southern Pines to Raleigh, U.S. 1 becomes a freeway with controlled intersections, and is known as the Claude E. Pope Memorial Highway. It overlaps a portion of Interstate 440 in Raleigh, then heads north along Capital Boulevard. US 1 travels north through Youngsville, Franklinton, and Kittrell to Henderson, where the highway then parallels Interstate 85 into Virginia. It generally follows the fall line between the Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain on its course through the state.

History

The general route of US 1 in North Carolina was first part of the Capital Highway, an auto trail organized in 1909 to encourage counties along the route to improve the road between Washington and Atlanta. [The Washington Post, Push Capital Highway, September 1, 1909] It differed from US 1 north of Norlina, where it ran via Emporia and Roanoke Rapids, and between Southern Pines and Rockingham, where a route via Pinehurst - where the association's president lived - was followed. [American Association for Highway Improvement, [http://books.google.com/books?id=5u1IAAAAMAAJ The Official Good Roads Year Book of the United States] , 1912, p. 342] The Quebec-Miami International Highway, organized in 1911 and renamed the Atlantic Highway in 1915, [William Kaszynski, The American Highway: The History and Culture of Roads in the United States, 2000, p. 38] also followed this corridor, overlapping many parts of the Capital Highway. [American Highway Association, [http://books.google.com/books?id=3e9IAAAAMAAJ Good Roads Year Book] , 1917, p. 491] It initially followed even less of US 1 than the Capital Highway, only taking the same route between Raleigh and Cameron and south of Rockingham, [American Automobile Association, [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g3701p+ct001837)) General Map of Transcontinental Trails with Principal Connections] , 1918] but was modified to match the Capital Highway by 1920, [Rand McNally, [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g3701p+ct001840)) New Official Railroad Map of the United States and Southern Canada] , 1920] and by 1924 it completely agreed with US 1 in North Carolina. [Automobile Club of America and National Highways Association, [http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalmaps/unitedstates/1900.html United States Touring Map] , 1924] The state assigned the Highway 50 designation to the road by 1922.Fact|date=October 2007

References