North Carolina Highway 175 (NC 175) 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 highway runs north from the

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

state line to US 64, along the eastern banks of

Chatuge Lake Lake Chatuge is a man-made reservoir in Towns County, Georgia, and Clay County, North Carolina. It lies along the Hiwassee River created by the Chatuge Dam which finished construction in 1942. The lake is relatively shallow with depths of and r ...

Route description

NC 175 begins at the Georgia state line just north of

Hiawassee, Georgia Hiawassee is the county seat of Towns County, Georgia, United States. The community's population was 880 at the 2010 census. Its name is derived from the Cherokee—or perhaps Creek—word ''Ayuhwasi'', which means meadow, (A variant spelling, ...

. This is at the northern terminus of Georgia SR 75. NC 175 heads north, running just east of Chatuge Lake and is located in the

Nantahala National Forest The Nantahala National Forest ( /ˌnæntəˈheɪlə/), is the largest of the four national forests in North Carolina, lying in the mountains and valleys of western North Carolina. The Nantahala is the second wettest region in the country, after the ...

. At just over , NC 175 comes to its northern end at US 64 near the community of Elf, east of Hayesville.

History

The first NC 175 was an original state highway, traversing from NC 194, in Newland, to NC 17, in

Blowing Rock Blowing Rock may refer to: * The town of Blowing Rock, North Carolina ** The rocky outcropping Blowing Rock (land feature), near the town of the same name * Blowing Rock, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Caribbean island belonging to Anguil ...

. In 1930, NC 175 was replaced by NC 181, between Newland and Linville, and US 221/ NC 691, between Linville and Blowing Rock. The second and current NC 175 was a renumbering of NC 135, which was previously established 29 days earlier along secondary road 1154. The routing has remained unchanged since its establishment. The Fred L. Woodard Sr. Bridge carries the highway over the Shooting Creek arm of the lake, near the northeast end. The original was a one-lane bridge built from 1941 to 1942, which was wide for a single lane but yet nearly impossible for opposing traffic to pass each other. The current bridge began construction in August 2014 just to the east of the original, destroying the business which had stood on the southeast corner of 175 and old 64 for decades. It opened in September 2015, and at the request of NCDOT, the

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a Federal government of the United States, federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, an ...

subsequently lowered the lake level in October to make it shallow enough to complete demolition of the old bridge starting in November. At the north end, northbound motorists must turn left to stay on NC 175, or right to go on NC 1353, both of which were the original route of U.S. 64 until the 1960s.

Future

NCDOT plans to widen all of NC 175, from the Georgia state line to US 64. The project includes widening lanes to , from the current , and add

bike lane Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles (marked with a solid white line, entry by motor ...

s or just paved

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

s of , plus a further unpaved shoulder of on both sides, nearly doubling the size of the road but not adding any capacity. At an estimated cost of $4.8 million, it is currently unfunded. Environmental assessments are expected to be done in February 2017, with taking of property from homeowners along the route starting in July 2018, and construction beginning in January 2020.

Junction list

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, North Carolina Highway 175
NCRoads.com: N.C. 175

175 Year 175 ( CLXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Piso and Iulianus (or, less frequently, year 928 '' Ab urbe condi ...