U.S. 17 and 17-1
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Photo: U.S. 17 facing east over the Chowan River. As of May 1998, traffic used a two-lane causeway connected to a drawbridge. To the left of the road is a new four-lane bridge under construction.
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U.S. 17 and 17-1
U.S. Route List | Home Photo: U.S. 17 facing east over the Chowan River. As of May 1998, traffic used a two-lane causeway connected to a drawbridge. To the left of the road is a new four-lane bridge under construction. |
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| U.S. 17 278 miles | |
| The Road: | Enters from South Carolina near Calabash, Brunswick County.
Leaves in the Dismal Swamp area, Camden County. Nationally, runs from Fort Myers, Florida to Winchester, Virginia. |
| Towns and Attractions: | Brunswick Co.: Shallotte (No, don't pronounce it like a New
Englander would say "Charlotte". It's sha-LOAT.)
New Hanover Co.: Crosses over the Cape Fear River and with it, the U.S.S. North Carolina Memorial (the ship pictured on the 1998 N.C. State Transportation Map). Street names through Wilmington: Dawson and Wooster Streets (one-way east and west), 17th and 16th Streets (one-way north and south), Market Street. If New Hanover County seems small, be aware that it used to be much bigger. In the 19th century it included today's Pender County as well. (And Durham County used to be part of Orange... back to the topic at hand.) Onslow Co.: Holly Ridge, Jacksonville (Ocean Highway, Marine Boulevard) Jones Co.: Maysville; Pollocksville; Croatan National Forest Craven Co.: New Bern; crosses Neuse River; Bridgeton Beaufort Co.: Chocowinty, crosses Pamlico River, Washington (Carolina Avenue) Martin Co.: Williamston; crosses Roanoake River Bertie Co.: Passes through Roanoake River NWR; Windsor; crosses Chowan River Chowan Co.: Edenton. Nestled in a bay within the Albemarle Sound and site of a dozen or so 19th-century mansions, Edenton is where N.C. meets New England. One of the more pleasant parts of this state, or any other. Perquimans Co.: Hertford; crosses Perquimans River Pasquotank Co.: Elizabeth City, which unlike Edenton is pretty forgettable. If you stay there on a holiday weekend you're asking to get gouged. Trust me. |
| Multilane Segments: | Four lanes from the S.C. line into Wilmington. Freewaylike
near the Cape Fear River. Four to six lanes through Wilmington proper (the
one-way streets are two or three lanes in either direction). Four lanes
north of Wilmington while still in New Hanover County.
Three lanes from the New Hanover/Pender line to Jacksonville. Every mile or so a passing lane alternates between the northbound and southbound directions of travel. As of 1998 this stretch was being widened to a much safer, but admittedly less interesting, four lanes. Four lanes just south of New Bern. Shares a freeway with U.S. 70. Four lanes through Chocowinty and Washington, four lanes thorough most of Martin County and four lanes while multiplexed with U.S. 13. Four lanes under construction between Windsor and Hertford. Construction is proceeding east to west (as of May 1998, it looked nearly finished east of Edenton). The two-lane drawbridge over the Chowan will be replaced with a four-lane raised bridge, similar to that used for nearby N.C. 32 and the approaches to the Outer Banks (photo above). Four lanes from Hertford to the Virginia line. Not particularly bypasslike, however, through Elizabeth City -- lots of fast-food joints and strip malls and the like. |
| History: | U.S. 17 wasn't an original 1925-26 U.S. highway.
Instead, its path -- from Wilmington to Virginia -- was originally slated
to be followed by U.S. 13. This designation probably never came to be.
U.S. 17 was born in North Carolina no later than 1928. North of Wilmington it followed the same general route through the same cities that it follows today. However, south of Wilmington it turned due west away from the coast and followed today's U.S. 76 into South Carolina, rather than running closer to the coast. U.S. 17 was given its current alignment south of Wilmington between 1932 and 1939. For a few years in the 1930s, this stretch of today's 17 was part of a longer U.S. 117. Through Wilmington, 17 originally crossed the Cape Fear much further north, over the Parsley Street bridge (actually, at that point 17 crossed the Northeast Cape Fear). The highway was then was routed over Third Street and Market Street all the way through town. The current freeway/bridge combo probably came into being in the late 1960s (definitely after 1964). In the early 1960s, 17 was widened to four lanes immediately south of Jacksonville, New Bern and Windsor and over the Pamlico between Chocowinty and Washington. By 1969, the four-lane bypass southeast of Williamston was built, as were bypasses of Hertford and Elizabeth City. By 1974, 17 was widened to four lanes immediately north of Jacksonville. By 1979 the road was widened between N.C. 87 and the Cape Fear, and for a few miles south of U.S. 13/64 near Williamston. Edenton was bypassed, and four lanes were completed from Hertford to well north of Elizabeth City. The U.S. 17/70 freeway, and the widening of 17 from E.C. to Virginia, came to be in the early 1980s. Widening from N.C. 87 to the South Carolina line was completed in 1993. (17 in S.C. had carried four to six lanes for many years.) As of August, 1998, routes have been finalized for four-lane bypasses of Wilmington and New Bern. [NCDOT site] As mentioned above, other parts of 17 are receiving four-lane widenings as well. |
| Comments: | U.S. 17 is evolving into a "near-Interstate" between Myrtle
Beach and Virginia Beach. Much of the route nowadays is or will be four
lanes, most of the smaller towns have been bypassed, and bypasses are planned
for 17's two largest cities. While 17 touches no Interstate in North Carolina
(it comes close to I-40), it belongs among the ten most important roads
in the state. Some pundits have suggested building a coastal Interstate
101, aligned partly along the U.S. 17 corridor. Such an "Interstate" is
actually pretty close to reality in N.C.
Like many of the state's other major routes -- I-85, N.C. 12, I-440, the BRP -- 17 has a personality all its own. It's the workhorse of the coastal plain, alternately running through pine forests and swamps, not crooked but not too straight to be monotonous, never seeing the beach itself but linking all the places where rivers run into bays. A cruise on 17 naturally runs at a slower pace than one on an Interstate, befitting the lifestyle of eastern North Carolinians. Demonstrating how 17 at once identifies and links together the coastal plain, the Charlotte Observer used to use the tag line "Cruisin' 17" on news and features about coastal communities during the late 1980s and early 1990s. (Does the paper still do this?) |
| Ideas: | Build a north-south bypass well west of Elizabeth City, to straighten the route out and save time for through traffic. |
| Business U.S. 17 5 miles | |
| The Road: | Main Street through Shallotte, Brunswick County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed around 1992. Four-lane widening north and south of Shalotte was finished about a year later. |
| Business U.S. 17 9 miles | |
| The Road: | Main Street through Bolivia, Brunswick County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed around 1993. Not the same Business 17 as the one through Shalotte. |
| Business U.S. 17 3 miles | |
| The Road: | Third Street and Market Street through Wilmington, New Hanover County. |
| Comments: | Market Street is 17's classic routing through Wilmington. Apparently demoted to "business" status when the Cape Fear bridge (carrying 17, 74 and 76) was built. |
| Business U.S. 17 4 miles | |
| The Road: | Main Street through Vanceboro, Craven County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed in the early 1960s. Somebody had to be first. |
| Business U.S. 17 2 miles | |
| The Road: | Washington Street and Main Street through Williamston, Martin County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed in the late 1960s. The bypasses of 13, 17 and 64 were presumably built all at once. |
| Business U.S. 17 11/2 miles | |
| The Road: | Granville Street and King Street through Windsor, Bertie County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed by 1963. |
| Business U.S. 17 8 miles | |
| The Road: | West Queen Street, Broad Street and East Church Street through Edenton, Chowan County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed in the late 1970s. |
| Business U.S. 17 4 miles | |
| The Road: | Dobb Street and Church Street through Hertford, Perquimans County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed in the late 1960s. Partially multiplexed with N.C. 37. |
| Business U.S. 17 3 miles | |
| The Road: | Ehringhause Street (among others) through Elizabeth City, Pasquotank County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed no later than 1969. |
| U.S. 17-1 dead | |
| Formerly: | A candle in the wind. First spotted in
the 1929 RMcN atlas, U.S. 17-1 ran along the 1920s equivalents of the following
modern highways:
In 1932, 17-1 was superseded in its entirety by U.S. 117 south of Wilson and U.S. 301 north of Wilson. (117 and 301 went other places, too.) It has not existed since then. Among U.S. highway historians, 17-1 carries great fame as the only numerical-hyphenated U.S. highway. However, the designation was shown on maps for only four years, and some doubt exists as to whether 17-1 was ever signed as such on actual roads at all. To be fair, other publishers' maps in addition to RMcN's corroborate the existence of 17-1, but even if 17-1 was for real, its candle burned out long before its legend ever did. |
