North Carolina Highway 146 (NC 146) is a short east/west

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in western

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 So ...

and lies entirely in

Buncombe County Buncombe County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is classified within Western North Carolina. The 2020 census reported the population was 269,452. Its county seat is Asheville. Buncombe County is part of the Ashevill ...

, south of downtown

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

. It is named Long Shoals Road for its entire length.

Route description

NC 146 begins its western end at NC 191 in the community of Avery Creek a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) south of Asheville. NC 146 travels east and at just over , immediately after crossing the

French Broad River The French Broad River is a river in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Tennessee. It flows from near the town of Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Tennessee, where its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville forms ...

, intersects

Interstate 26 Interstate 26 (I-26) is a main route of the Interstate Highway System in the Southeastern United States. Nominally east–west, as indicated by its even number, I-26 runs from the junction of U.S. Route 11W (US 11W) and US 23 in K ...

/ U.S. 74 at exit 37. Passing exit 37, NC 146 enters the Asheville city limits and passes north of Lake Julian and Julian Lake Park before nearing its eastern end. At , NC 146 reaches its eastern end at

U.S. Route 25 U.S. Route 25 (US 25) is a north–south United States Highway that runs for in the southern and midwestern US. Its southern terminus is in Brunswick, Georgia, from where it proceeds mostly due north, passing through the cities of Augusta, Georg ...

in Skyland (but still within the Asheville city limits).

History

The current routing of NC 146 was designated around 1991 as a renumbering of

North Carolina Highway 280 North Carolina Highway 280 (NC 280) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina that runs from the city of Brevard in Transylvania County to the town of Fletcher in Henderson County. It is in length, starting at t ...

. NC 280 was rerouted at

NC 191 North Carolina Highway 191 (NC 191) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It travels within portions of Henderson and Buncombe Counties. Route description NC 191 begins at an intersection with US ...

to head directly east to U.S. Route 25. As a result, the former routing of NC 280 from NC 191 to Skyland became NC 146.NC Roads: NC 280

Major Intersections

References

146 Transportation in Buncombe County, North Carolina {{NorthCarolina-road-stub