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