North Carolina

[freebrickproductions]

I don't know about the rest of you, but lately I've been thinking a lot about Norlina, North Carolina for some reason.

Sure, it seems like a nothing town, but it's in the near north end of US 1 in North Carolina, it contains the overlaps of US 158 and US 401, and it's just southeast of the northern terminus of US 401 at the last exit for I-85 in North Carolina. If it wasn't so far out of my way, I'd consider stopping there for some pictures during trips to and from the New York Tri-State Area.

It's also technically the north end of the CSX Norlina Subdivision,  which is currently the northernmost portion of the S Line that still exists (outside of the very northern tip that still exists in Richmond, VA, of course), though I don't believe any trains have gone all the way up there in decades.

Should the S Line high speed rail rebuild ever go through, however...

[NE2]

I don't know about the rest of you, but lately I've been thinking a lot about Norlina, North Carolina for some reason.

I;m thinking about thos beans

[jcil4ever]

Was driving around along US-158 yesterday between Gates County and I-95 and saw that the new bypass of Garysburg and Weldon has opened. NCDOT has aspirations to widen all of 158 from 95 to Murfreesboro, but this is the only funded section.

Obviously, final touches are still being completed. I actually turned on from US-301. I noticed that the intersection for the ramps there was signed for roundabouts, but they're both traditional insurrections. The signs on 95 aren't updated yet, with no mention of 158 at Exit 176, but new supports were being installed for signs at Exit 173, so I imagine that will change soon. It looks like the old 158 through Weldon to 95 is now signed as Business 158.

I searched for any sort of coverage of the road opening, but didn't see anything. Anyone know how long it's been open?

Here's what it looks like westbound:

I can't find any documentation for this, but it looks like NCDOT truncated NC-46 to I-95, replacing it with just NC-186.

Intersection with 186:


186 is co-signed with 158:


The first mention for 46 is at the 95 bridge:

[Mapmikey]

The directions on the set of NC 186 shields are backwards...

[Mapmikey]

Looks like it opened in August:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1275751014562476&set=a.442820654522187&http_ref=eyJ0cyI6MTc1Nzg2MDEwMjAwMCwiciI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbVwvIn0%3D

[74/171FAN]

Looks like it opened in August:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1275751014562476&set=a.442820654522187&http_ref=eyJ0cyI6MTc1Nzg2MDEwMjAwMCwiciI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbVwvIn0%3D

Yeah Facebook was the only source I saw for it hence why I had not prioritized visiting my parents to clinch it yet.

[architect77]

I don't know about the rest of you, but lately I've been thinking a lot about Norlina, North Carolina for some reason.

Sure, it seems like a nothing town, but it's in the near north end of US 1 in North Carolina, it contains the overlaps of US 158 and US 401, and it's just southeast of the northern terminus of US 401 at the last exit for I-85 in North Carolina. If it wasn't so far out of my way, I'd consider stopping there for some pictures during trips to and from the New York Tri-State Area.

I never knew that US401 began/ended right there. That explains why my hometown is mentioned on the first exit, Louisburg is the first control city for US401 heading South.

[Dirt Roads]

I don't know about the rest of you, but lately I've been thinking a lot about Norlina, North Carolina for some reason.

Sure, it seems like a nothing town, but it's in the near north end of US 1 in North Carolina, it contains the overlaps of US 158 and US 401, and it's just southeast of the northern terminus of US 401 at the last exit for I-85 in North Carolina. If it wasn't so far out of my way, I'd consider stopping there for some pictures during trips to and from the New York Tri-State Area.

I never knew that US401 began/ended right there. That explains why my hometown is mentioned on the first exit, Louisburg is the first control city for US401 heading South.

Indeed!  That's because US-401 historically ended at US-1 in Norlina.  US-401 was extended to I-85 back sometime about Y2K or 2001.

[The Ghostbuster]

I think US 401's northern terminus should have stayed in Norlina. Its 2001 extension to Interstate 85 was unnecessary.

[Dirt Roads]

Cross-posted from the <Signs specific to States> thread:

I've always wondered why this NC86 state highway truck route has special background that's carried through on all signs in Efland, NC right at the I-40/I-85 split.

eflandnc by Stephen Edwards, on Flickr

The original signage posted TRUCK NC-86 as normal lettering with diamond cutout on the BGS background, but it was ineffective in getting trucks to use CONN US-70 (formerly US-70X) as a truck route.  NC-86 is Churton Street in the historic downtown section of Hillsborough, which is closed to truck traffic.  Good thing, since northbound trucks (legal ones making local deliveries) trying to head uphill through downtown causes stop-and-go traffic all day long.

Not sure why NCDOT chose the white background, but it seems to have been effective for the most part.  Today, we see 2 or 3 through trucks daily heading northbound through downtown, whereas it was 20 or more through trucks some 20 years ago. 

There is a weigh station for trucks nearby if that's related to the white background.

There is a connection to weigh station, but not the one on I-85/I-40 west of here.  Rather, there is the old weigh station on US-70 between the Eno River and Hillsborough that serves as headquarters for the weigh station operations on the Interstate, as well as the local DMV License Plate agency (State Troopers assigned to weigh station operations serve double-duty here by also administering Commercial Drivers Licence (CDL) testing (perhaps the only such location in the state).

Anywhoosit, back 25 years ago the DMV regularly used the old eastbound scale location as a location with a temporary scale (gotcha!) to catch truckers that used US-70 to bypass the scales on the Interstate.  While this served the intended effect, it also had the unintentional effect of drawing truckers away from using TRUCK NC-86 and rather trying to sneak through downtown Hillsborough (as if anybody could sneak through there).