North Carolina Highway 742 (NC 742) is a 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 connects the city of Wadesboro with the towns of Oakboro and Chesterfield, South Carolina.

Route description

NC 742 is a predominantly two-lane rural highway that begins at the South Carolina state line, where continuing south on South Carolina Highway 742 (SC 742) would lead to Chesterfield. In Wadesboro, it first runs concurrent with NC 109 before going through the downtown area. At the intersection of Caswell and Greene Streets, NC 742 switches from NC 109, which continues north to Mount Gilead, onto

U.S. Route 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...

(US 52) and US 74. later, NC 742 splits from US 74, which continues west towards Charlotte. After another and passing over the CSX rail line (originally known as the Seaboard Line), NC 742 splits with US 52, which continues north towards Albemarle. For the next , NC 742 travels through farmlands of northwestern Anson County, with the community of Burnsville located in the middle of it. NC 742 continues through the northeastern corner of Union County for , with no major junctions. After crossing the

Rocky River Rocky River may refer to: Localities *Rocky River, Ohio, USA * Rocky River, New South Wales near Uralla, Australia Electorates *Electoral district of Rocky River (South Australia) Streams In Australia: * Rocky River (New South Wales) * R ...

, it enters

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 ...

; later it crosses into Oakboro city limits. As it nears its end in downtown Oakboro, it connects with NC 138 which towards Aquadale and Albemarle. Two blocks further, it ends at the intersection of Main and Second Street, with NC 205, which continues north to Red Cross and southwest to New Salem and Marshville.

History

NC 742 was established in 1936 as a new primary routing from US 74 in Wadesboro to NC 205 in Oakboro. Around 1947, NC 742 was extended south, over part of US 74 and NC 109, to the South Carolina state line, where it continues south as SC 742 (originally SC 850). In 1996, the routings of US 52 and NC 742 were adjusted in Wadesboro; they were removed from Salisbury Street and onto a new road further west that crossed over the railroad tracks.

Junction list

References

External links

* {{commonscat-inline
NCRoads.com: N.C. 742
742 Transportation in Anson County, North Carolina Transportation in Union County, North Carolina Transportation in Stanly County, North Carolina