U.S. 117 and 217
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U.S. 117 and 217
U.S. Route List | Home |
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| U.S. 117 119 miles | |||
| The Road: | Starts at U.S. 421, Brunswick County. Ends at U.S. 301, Wilson County. | ||
| Towns and Attractions: | Brunswick and New Hanover Cos.: Crosses over the Northeast Cape
Fear River on the Parsley Street bridge. Clips the northwestern corner
of Wilmington (Parsley Street, J.E.L. Wade Drive, Castle Hayne Road). Goes
through center of Castle Hayne.
Pender Co.: Burgaw Duplin Co.: Wallace (Norwood Street); Rose Hill (Sycamore Street); Magnolia (Monk Street); Warsaw (Pine Street); Faison Wayne Co.: Goldsboro; Fremont (Wilson Street) |
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| Multilane Segments: | Four lanes over the Northeast Cape Fear.
Four lanes between Faison and Goldsboro. Freeway through southern Wayne County. |
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| History: | Like the other members of the U.S. 17 family, U.S.
117 wasn't part of the protean 1925/26 U.S. highway system. By 1929, however,
a U.S. 117 ran along today's U.S. 158 and 258. This early 117 ran from
Norlina in Warren County east to Roanoake Rapids and Murfeesboro before
tacking northeast into Virginia. It also went into Warrenton on today's
158A; today's 158 north of Warrenton didn't exist. Much of this road was
the original N.C. 48.
In 1932, today's 117 started to take form, as it was given its current Wilson-to-Wilmington form (bypasses excepted) and signed over what was then N.C. 40. Between Wilson and Wilmington, 117 supplanted the short-lived U.S. 17-1. However, this second 117 also originally continued southwest of Wilmington along the coast and into South Carolina. By 1939, the route south of Wilmington was given to U.S. 17, and 117 was ended in Wilmington. In the early 1950s, bypasses were built around Burgaw and Goldsboro. By 1963, a bypass was finished around Mount Olive. (Strangely, a 1964 RMcN map shows this bypass to be four lanes, but other maps, including later RMcNs, only show this as a two-lane bypass, with four-laning not occurring until the late 1980s.) The road around Goldsboro was widened to four lanes in the early 1960s as well. The freeway north of Mount Olive was opened at least in part by October 1988. Originally, 117 did not cross the Northeast Cape Fear; its southern terminus was at Parsley Street in Wilmington. There, it hit U.S. 17/74/76/421, and those four highways went over the Cape Fear instead. When the newer 74/76/et al. bridge was built further south (probably in the late 1960s), the old bridge was given to U.S. 117. According to the 1997 official state map, a new U.S. 117 freeway, east of the current road, is planned between Goldsboro and Wilson. When this is finished, 117 will be four lanes in its entirety north of I-40. |
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| Comments: | Between Wilmington and Mount Olive, U.S. 117 now parallels I-40,
and serves as its de-facto business route. For this reason, this stretch
of 117 probably won't get any major upgrades anytime soon.
In the mid-1990s a four-lane connector was built between 117 and I-40 exit 355. The southernmost part of 117 is often used to get from I-40 to U.S. 17 by travelers going between, say, Raleigh and Myrtle Beach. With construction of the 17 bypass around Wilmington impending, the use of 117 in this way eventually won't be necessary. |
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| Business U.S. 117 2 miles | |
| The Road: | Through Burgaw, Pender County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed between 1951 and 1955. |
| Business U.S. 117 redesignated | |
| The Road: | Former desgination of today's U.S. 117A south of N.C. 55 in the Mount Olive area. |
| Comments: | Was bypassed between 1958 and 1963 by the current four-lane 117. Became part of 117A when the freeway to the north of N.C. 55 was finished in late 1988. |
| Business U.S. 117 3 miles | |
| The Road: | George Street, Ash Street et al. through Goldsboro, Wayne County. |
| Comments: | Bypassed between 1951 and 1955. A bypasslike road is shown around the west side of Goldsboro in the 1951 RMcN, but it probably wasn't 117 yet. |
| U.S. 117A 13 miles | |
| The Road: | Through Calypso (Duplin County) and Mount Olive and Brogden (Wayne County); stays within a mile of mainline U.S. 117. |
| Comments: | A relatively new designation; dates only to the completion of
the 117 freeway in Wayne County in late 1988. Before that, 117A was called
Business 117 south of N.C. 55 and
was the mainline 117 north of N.C. 55.
Earlier, 117A through Calypso and Mount Olive was mainline 117 until the early 1960s. 117A north of Mount Olive is probably itself a bypass of Old Mount Olive Road, which runs further east along railroad tracks (no old map I've consulted helps here). When the 117 freeway is completed in a few years all the way north to Wilson, it's a good bet that a new 117A will be designated over the existing 117. (Will this be the case? And if so what will happen to the existing Business 117 in Goldsboro -- will it become Business 117A?) |
| U.S. 217 dead | |
| Formerly: | Not part of the preliminary 1925/26 U.S. highway plan, U.S. 217 was nonetheless an original late-1920s U.S. highway that only survived a few years. U.S. 217 ran along today's U.S. 301 from Wilson south through Smithfield, Fayetteville and Rowland and into South Carolina. Most of this route was the original N.C. 22; if you want you can also consider it the protean I-95. Shown on the 1929 RMcN atlas, U.S. 217 was superseded by U.S. 301 in 1932. U.S. 301 also supplanted U.S. 17-1 north of Wilson. |
