North Carolina...
 

NC 211:
 

Summary:

Detailed Description:

Improvements for NC 211 in Moore County after 2007 will start the dualization between NC 73 in West End to the Pinehurst traffic in the southern part of the county. The existing 2 lane highway has had continuous vehicular growth since the late 1980's, and has carried moderate to heavy traffic between the sprawling Seven Lakes area and the Pinehurst traffic circle. The chronic traffic build up approaching the Pinehurst traffic circle occurs daily for NC 211, and begins as far back as the First Health Hospital of Pinehurst at the Page Road signal. East of the Beulah Hill Ch / Main St. signal, NC 211 becomes a controlled access 2-lane expressway until it reaches the traffic circle at US 15/501 and NC 2.

Past the traffic circle the moderate to heavy vehicular traffic continues, multiplexing with US 15/501 all the way to US 1. This highway passes through the town of Southern Pines and crosses the Aberdeen city limits past Golden Corral. After the additional multiplex of US 1 through Aberdeen, traffic for all highways begin to tone down as US Highways 1 & 15/501 and NC 211 go their own ways. Unfortunately for NC 211, the traffic builds back up approaching the Hoke County line from cars that used Indiana Ave from the US 15/501/NC 211 at Morganton Road signal as a shortcut to avoid most of NC 211, which functions as a main boulevard of fast food and retail stores. The traffic increases are as a result of motorists accessing the military installments of Ft Bragg and Pope AFB, as well as accessing the city of Fayetteville.

After 2010 the town of Red Springs, Robeson County will have a new bypass which will encircle 3/4 of the town. Three additional highways will multiplex with NC 211 along the bypass: NC Highways 71, 72 and 710. This bypass will be a 2 lane highway with multilane ROW space available. It is undetermined at this point whether it will be controlled access or not.

A super 2 expressway was built around the early 1970's to reroute thru-traffic around the town of Bladenboro. ROW is available to upgrade to 4 lanes. All intersections have pavement on the right with no arrows, and the pavement is likely still used for right turns (except NC 131 & 242 where arrows are present for turn lanes). The speed limit is 55 mph except around the immediate area of the NC 131 signal. At that signal, it drops down to 45 mph with commercial businesses nearby, with their driveways located on NC 131. After passing the NC 131 signal, NC 211 regains its 55 mph speed and then loops around the eastern fringe of Bladenboro

Highways that lead to the southeastern North Carolina shorelines, such as NC 87 and US 74, are most often used to reach the coastline. NC 211 is an underused way to the beach and has lighter traffic volumes. The Bladenboro bypass is NC 211's only expressway south of US 1, and the rest of the highway from Candor to Southport is currently a 2-lane highway that runs through all towns along its path.

Expressway Site Recommends:

Moore County -- As soon as the new NCDOT Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) comes in, begin a design process study where construction can begin dualizing NC 211 west of West End towards US 220/I-73/74 in Candor, Montgomery County. Recently, NC 211 was resurfaced in 2003, still as a 2 lane highway, and many intersections originally with no turn lanes had turn lanes added as part of the resurfacing project. Most traffic using NC 211 from US 220/I-73/74 consists of beach bound motorists from the north & west who use NC 211 over other beach bound highways such as US 64, US 74 and I-40.

Hoke County -- As soon as the new NCDOT TIP comes in, begin a design process study where construction can begin dualizing NC 211 from US 15/501 in Aberdeen, Moore County to Palmer Ave in Raeford. Continuous growth in vehicular traffic for Fayetteville & Ft Bragg bound motorists has resulted in NC 211's moderate to heavy traffic during daytime hours. In the mid 1990's, US 401 was dualized north of the Raeford Bypass towards Fayetteville to handle the continuous vehicular growth for these motorists.

Second, upon reaching the city limits of Raeford, sign NC 211 Bypass along Palmer Ave. This existing 2 lane highway, which is about 3 miles long, bypasses downtown Raeford with a 55 mph speed limit, except for a brief 35 mph speed zone in the US 401 area. The current NC 211 past Palmer Ave can become Business NC 211. As of late 2004, the NCDOT has installed a "TO NC 211" sign at the NC 211/Palmer Ave signal directing motorists along this unofficial bypass route.

Also, the NCDOT is extending Palmer Ave from NC 211 southeast of Raeford to NC 20 which would likely take off additional thru traffic off downtown Raeford streets onto Palmer Ave. By connecting to NC 20, Palmer Ave becomes Oakdale Gin Drive, which connects to US 401 Business. Construction will begin in 2006.

Current and Future Improvements:

Junction Log - Moore County Segment (Eastbound):

(Super 2 expressway with 45 mph speed limit)

Junction Log - Bladen County Segment (Eastbound):

(All Super 2 expressway)

Note:

Despite the fact that the NCDOT does not officially acknowledge controlled access or limited access 2-lane highways as expressways in its Strategic Corridors plan, we at the Expressway Site believe that these two lane highways can be considered to be super-2 expressways.

Sources:
Lou Corsaro wrote this page. Help was received from Matt Steffora, Mapquest, NCDOT, NCDOT TIP, NC state transportation map 2004, and Adam Prince (Gribblenation) for controlled access sign.

Last Updated: 2/6/06

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