North Carolina Highway 49 (NC 49) is a 177.8-mile (286.1 km) primary

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 the U.S. state of North Carolina. It traverses much of the Piedmont region, connecting the cities of Charlotte,

Asheboro Asheboro is a city in and the county seat of Randolph County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 25,012 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Greensboro–High Point metropolitan area of the Piedmont Triad and is home of the sta ...

, and

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

Route description

The highway is part of a three-state highway 49 system, entering North Carolina near Lake Wylie, south of Charlotte, and exiting the state near Virgilina, Virginia on the Virginia state line. The route is an important corridor for traffic as it forms a part of the shortest route between the two largest cities in the Carolinas: Charlotte, and the North Carolina state capital of Raleigh. in

, NC 49 meets US 64, which forms the majority of the Charlotte-Raleigh link. From where it enters the state, the highway passes through Charlotte (where it follows most of Tryon Street and the uptown portion of Graham Street) and after crossing the more suburban portions of western

Cabarrus County Cabarrus County ( )
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

Stanly County Stanly County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 62,504. Its county seat is Albemarle. Stanly County comprises the Albemarle, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included ...

. From uptown Charlotte to University City NC 49 is concurrent 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 ...

. After passing Mount Pleasant in eastern Cabarrus County, the road becomes a designated

North Carolina Scenic Byway The North Carolina Scenic Byways consists of roads in the state of North Carolina that travel through areas of scenic, historic, and cultural significance. Launched in March 1990, the scenic byway program has presently 59 designated byways, inclu ...

. The route passes close to Pfeiffer University in Stanly County before crossing the Yadkin River near the Tuckertown Reservoir. After crossing the river, the road skirts the northern foothills of the ancient

Uwharrie Mountains The Uwharrie Mountains ()
from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

Franklinville. In Ramseur, the two routes split; NC 49 goes north through the towns of Liberty and Alamance and into

, where it meets I-40/

I-85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 65, I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with Interstate 95, I ...

. A concurrency of NC 49 and US 70 winds through Burlington before the two routes diverge at Haw River, where NC 49 heads north. In northern Alamance County, NC 49 meets NC 62 at a 4-way at-grade junction. The two routes switch directions at this point; NC 49 turns east toward

Roxboro Roxboro is the name of several places: *Roxboro, Quebec, now part of the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada * Roxboro, North Carolina, United States of America *Roxboro, Limerick, a townland in Co Limerick, Ireland *Roxboro, Ca ...

. After passing through Roxboro and a short interval of concurrency with US 158 and US 501, NC 49 continues on toward the Virginia state line. One unique fact about the route is that NC 49 is one of limited number of state highways that maintain their numbers in more than two contiguous states, in this case Virginia ( SR 49) and South Carolina ( SC 49), with an aggregate length in the three states of more than .

History

Established in late 1934 as a renumbering of NC 15, it traversed from Lake Wylie to Morehead and

Tryon Street Tryon may refer to: * Tryon (surname) Places * Tryon Creek, tributary of the Willamette River in Oregon * Tryon Street, major north-south street of Charlotte, North Carolina * Tryon, Prince Edward Island, Canada, unincorporated area * Settled ...

, in Charlotte, where it connected with US 21/

/ US 74/

NC 27 North Carolina Highway 27 (NC 27) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The route traverses through southern and central North Carolina, about of it as a concurrency with NC 24. Route description NC&nb ...

. In 1940, NC 49 was extended northeast from Charlotte to the Virginia state line, near Virgilina, Virginia; its routing went as follows: In Charlotte, it was overlapped with US 29 along Tryon Street and Old Concord Road. Traveling through Concord, via Old Charlotte Road, it then overlaps with NC 73 to Mount Pleasant. Replacing NC 62, it travels northeast, through Richfield and Farmer, to Asheboro. With a brief overlap with US 220 (Fayetteville Street), it continues its northeasterly along Old Liberty road, replacing NC 62, through Liberty,

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan G ...

, Haw River, to Pleasant Grove. Going east from Pleasant Grove, NC 49 replaced NC 144, through

, to the Virginia state line, near Virgilina. In or by 1947, NC 49 was rerouted in Richfield, removing a concurrency with US 52. And in Asheboro, NC 49 was rerouted onto US 64 to Ramseur, then northeast to Liberty; its old alignment becoming NC 49A. In 1949, NC 49 was rerouted in Roxboro from Main Street onto newly constructed Madison Boulevard. In 1953, NC 49 was given its modern routing bypassing Concord and a concurrency with NC 73; that same year, in the Charlotte area, it was moved from Old Concord Road to University City Boulevard. Around 1960, NC 49 was given a new alignment south of Farmer, in Randolph County. By 1962, in Roxboro, NC 49 was removed along Morgan Street and Concord Road to an overlap with US 158 on Leasburg Road. In 1982, NC 49, in concurrency with US 29, was rerouted in

Uptown Charlotte Uptown Charlotte, also called Center City, is the central business district of Charlotte, North Carolina. The area is split into four wards by the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets, and bordered by Interstate 277 and Interstate 77. The a ...

from Tryon Street onto Morehead and Graham Streets, cutting back onto Tryon Street via Dalton Avenue. By 1993, NC 49 was adjusted in Pleasant Grove to intersect with NC 62; before it would turn nearby without connecting. In 2004, NC 49/ NC 57 was rerouted from a section of Leasburg Road onto Long Avenue, in Roxboro.

North Carolina Highway 15

North Carolina Highway 15 (NC 15) was an original state highway, established in 1921. It began at the intersection of Trade and

in Charlotte, connecting with NC 20/

, traversing northeast along Tryon Street and Old Concord Road to Harrisburg and Concord. From Concord, it went north through

Kannapolis Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. Th ...

and Landis before ending in Salisbury at Main and Innes Street, connecting with NC 10/ NC 80. In 1927, US 170 was assigned on all of NC 15. By 1930, NC 15 was extended south on Tryon Street/York Road to SC 163, at Lake Wylie. In 1932, US 170 was renumbered as an extension of

. In 1934, because of

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 ...

establishing in the state, NC 15 was removed on all sections overlapping with US 29 and the remaining section was renumbered to NC 49.

Major intersections

Special routes

New London alternate route

North Carolina Highway 49A (NC 49A) was established as a renumbering of NC 62A. A spur route of NC 49, it went south near the Tuckertown Reservoir to New London, connecting with US 52/ NC 740 on Gold Street. In 1948, it was renumbered to NC 6; it later became part of NC 8 in 1953.

Asheboro–Liberty alternate route

North Carolina Highway 49A (NC 49A) was established after mainline NC 49 was rerouted onto US 64 from Asheboro to Ramseur, then northeast to Liberty; NC 49A continued the old alignment through Asheboro via Albemarle Avenue, Park Street, Salisbury Street, and Fayetteville Street. North of Asheboro it followed Old Liberty Road to Liberty. On November, 1967, NC 49A was decommissioned, most of which (except for Fayetteville Street) becoming secondary roads.

References

External links