North Carolina Highway 27 (NC 27) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. The route traverses through southern and central North Carolina, about of it as a concurrency with NC 24.

Route description

NC 27 begins in

Cleveland County Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

near the unincorporated community of

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in Mexico. The city f ...

at a T-intersection with NC 10. From there it runs southeast to the city of Lincolnton. In Lincolnton, it serves as Main Street, and runs past the Lincoln County courthouse. From Lincolnton, it runs southeast again to

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

where it follows Main Street. It enters

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

along Mount Holly Road, and follows several major thoroughfares through Charlotte, including Freedom Drive, Morehead Street, and Independence Boulevard. On the east side of Charlotte, it begins its long concurrency with NC 24, approximately 1/2 of its total length. The two highways leave the city along Albemarle Road and remain joined until the unincorporated community of Johnsonville. Along this segment, they pass through the cities of Midland,

Locust Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstanc ...

, Albemarle,

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

, Biscoe, and

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

. They share further concurrencies with NC 109, NC 22, and

US 15 U.S. Route 15 (US 15) is a -long United States highway, designated along South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. The route is signed north–south, from U.S. Route 17 Alternate in Walterboro, South Car ...

. From the split with NC 24, the road runs northeast to Lillington where it follows Main Street, and leaves town as a concurrency with US 421. It passes

Campbell University Campbell University is a private Baptist university in Buies Creek, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (Southern Baptist Convention). Southern Baptist ConventionColleges and Universities sbc.n ...

Buies Creek Buies Creek is a long 3rd order tributary to the Cape Fear River in Harnett County, North Carolina, United States. Course Buies Creek rises about 1.5 miles southeast of Angier and then flows south to join the Cape Fear River about 1 mile south ...

before entering Johnston County and ending in

Benson Benson may refer to: Animals *Benson (fish), largest common carp caught in Britain Places Geography Canada *Rural Municipality of Benson No. 35, Saskatchewan; rural municipality *Benson, Saskatchewan; hamlet United Kingdom * Benson, Oxfordshire ...

just short of

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

. NC 50 continues east of NC 27's terminus at US 301.

History

NC 27 is one of North Carolina's original state highways. Its original routing connected Charlotte to Lincolnton. It used several streets through Charlotte, but followed roughly the same route. The road was extended several times: *1923: east to Albemarle *1928: west to Toluca (current terminus) *1934: east to Carthage (using the concurrency with NC 24) *1948-50: east to Cameron *1958: east to Benson (current terminus) NC 27 has had a tumultuous history through Charlotte. It has always served as a major east–west route through the city, but it has been rerouted numerous times on different city streets as traffic patterns changed. All of the following roads have carried NC 27 at one time or another: *Rozelles Ferry Rd. (1923–1936) *Mount Holly Road (1923–present) *Trade St.(1923-?) *Hawthorne Lane(1924–1936) *Central Ave.(1924–1955) *Albemarle Rd.(1924–present) *Mint St.(1936–1946) *Morehead St. (1936–present) *Thrift Rd.(1936–1946) *McDowell St. (1946–1955) *Independence Blvd. (1955–present) *Freedom Dr. (1958–Present)

Major intersections

Special routes

Lincolnton truck route

North Carolina Highway 27 Truck (NC 27 Truck) is a route that takes truck traffic south around downtown Lincolnton, via West Highway 150 and NC 150. Signage along the route only appears at key intersections.

Thrift–Charlotte alternate route

North Carolina Highway 27A (NC 27A) was established as a renumbering of NC 271. Starting at the former community of Thrift (located in present-day Paw Creek neighborhood), it went south from Mount Holly Road, entering Charlotte along Tuckaseegee/Thrift Roads. It then overlapped with

US 29 U.S. Route 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida to the western suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland in the Southern United States, connecting the Florida Panhandle to the Baltimore-Washington ...

/ US 74/ NC 20 on Morehead Street and US 74 on McDowell Street, before reconnecting with mainline NC 27 at 7th Street. In 1936, NC 27A was replaced by mainline NC 27.

Pee Dee–Wadeville alternate route

North Carolina Highway 27A (NC 27A) was established when mainline NC 27 was rerouted on a more direct route between

Lake Tillery Lake Tillery is a reservoir between Falls Reservoir and Blewett Falls Lake in the Uwharrie Lakes Region of North Carolina. It is entirely within Stanly County and Montgomery County, NC. The lake was created by impounding the Pee Dee River, which ...

and

, in Montgomery County. NC 27A follows NC 73 east, through Pee Dee, then continues straight along Pee Dee Road, connecting with NC 109, in Wadeville. Going back north, it reconnected with NC 27 west from Troy. In 1967, NC 27A was decommissioned, with Pee Dee Road only section to drop to a secondary road. From Lake Tillery to Wadeville, NC 27A formed the southern edge of the

Uwharrie National Forest Uwharrie National Forest ( ) Talk Like A Tarheel
from the North Car ...

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline
NCRoads.com: N.C. 27

027 O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad scal ...