US 321 Direction in NC

[Bitmapped]

As many of you know, US 321 infamously reverses its signed direction in Elizabethton, TN. Both directions heading out of town are signed as southbound.

I guess there's an obvious question here - why not just sign the entirety of the routing in TN as east-west and avoid this issue? The alignment in TN seems more east-west to begin with and it avoids the confusion in Elizabethton.

Edited to correct state for Elizabethton.

[Strider]

Elizabethton is on Tennessee, not NC.

[The Ghostbuster]

Regardless of what direction it takes and where, I think the US 321 should not have been extended beyond Johnson City, TN. The Newport-to-Greeneville segment should have remained US 411, and the Lenior City-to-Newport segment of US 321 should have been given a different number such as US 511 (II).

[Mapmikey]

US 511 would've violated AASHTO policy.

Note that Tennessee first tried to get the extension to Lenoir City (plus northeast back to Clinton) as part of an extended US 74 in 1978.

Tennessee could have rerouted US 70 on the Lenoir City-Newport corridor and all but the westernmost few miles would have remained US routes 11 and 25W.

Having the cardinal directions change at the state line instead of reverse at Elizabethton would make more sense.

[wdcrft63]

Let's move this discussion to Tennessee. There's no problem with the direction of US 321 in NC.

[wriddle082]

US 511 would've violated AASHTO policy.

How so?  Isn't it an available number?

Then how about US 519?  Have US 321 end at US 19E in Hampton, and US 519 begin at US 19E in Elizabethton.

Considering how US 52 changes from N-S to E-W at nearly every state line it crosses, I'm actually fine with that kind of thing.  But the US 321 designation just doesn't make sense to me west of Hampton, TN, and the direction REVERSAL in Elizabethton is completely unacceptable.

[Mapmikey]

Any number that wasn't an extension of an existing number would be a violation of the policy that a US route must cross a state line (or be >500 miles if completely intrastate).

[wriddle082]

^ Okay then, 511 or 519 could go to 421 at Sugar Grove, NC, and 321 could just end in Blowing Rock at 221 or Boone at 421.  Either Blowing Rock or Boone would be a dignified truncation point for 321.

[hbelkins]

How about changing US 321's direction from N-S to E-W at US 19E at Elizabethton? That would be similar to the way beltways change directions.

[fillup420]

How about changing US 321's direction from N-S to E-W at US 19E at Elizabethton? That would be similar to the way beltways change directions.

I think the most logical spot for a cardinal direction change would be in Boone at 421. The route of 321 is nominally east-west from that point "north".