North Carolina...
 

US 421:
 

Summary:

Entering the Tar Heel state from Tennessee towards Boone, traverses through the Appalachian Mountains at elevations between 1800 and 3000 feet. In late 2004, US 421 was designated as scenic byway through Watauga County¹. Proponents of the idea said the designation will help tourism and spur economic growth to the remote areas of western Watauga County. However, opponents of the idea believed that it would cause restrictions on land use for development. An additional controversial aspect of the NC scenic byway designation is that it prevents any new billboards within 660 feet of the highway's right of way.

Boone, the first major town encountered by US 421 in North Carolina, is home of Appalachian State University and is the county seat of Watauga. East of Boone, NCDOT completed 4-laned US 421 to Wilkesboro during the late 1990’s. Prior to the 4-laning, US 421 was a 2-lane highway with heavy traffic, daily choked into a bottleneck due to the rising elevations and narrow shoulders. During the 4-laning process, NCDOT upgraded US 421 to contemporary standards by easing the grades and curves along the highway for a safer, smoother and straighter drive at higher design speeds.

Approaching the Wilkesboro area, US 421 becomes a freeway and runs along a relatively straight alignment towards Winston-Salem. US 421 runs through the Wilkesboro Speedway, which once hosted NASCAR events, but is now quieter, although local races are hosted weekly during the season. Even though North Carolina’s heart and soul are connected to its original roots, huge popularity and strong marketing has made NASCAR decide to earn larger profits by building new tracks for bigger cities around the United States to. US 421 was once a 2-lane highway from the eastern end of the Wilkesboro freeway to I-77, but 2 more lanes were added during the 1980’s.

After passing I-40, US 421 runs along the original I-40 alignment through Winston-Salem which is more commonly referred to as Business I-40. Rehabilitation work is underway to bring the 1950's-era interstate up to contemporary standards from the US 52 exit towards Kernersville. US 421 once exited off Business I-40 and followed Main St through Kernersville, with the road tuning into Market St when it enters Guilford County. US 421 then followed Wendover Avenue (part US 220) and O’Henry Blvd (US 29). In the 1990's, the US 421 designation moved onto the Business I-40 and the mainline I-40 alignment all the way to the central interchange, locally known as Death Valley, in Greensboro.

Unlike Forsyth County, which is currently rehabilitating its old freeways, Guilford County has completed its I-40 rehabilitation work after years of delays and rising construction material costs and the county is now seeing new construction. Construction near the Gallimore Dairy Road exit will be around for a few years for the newly-opened I-40 bypass, which will connect to the recently completed I-85 bypass and avoid the Death Valley area. The new I-40 and I-85 bypasses are both part of the bigger picture of the new Greensboro beltway (Painter Blvd / I-840), which is all either under construction or funded for construction by. The new <link>I-85 and I-40 is 6 to 8 lanes and has a 65mph speed limit. When the construction finally gets completed, roughly planned for 2015, US 421 will remain where it stands as of now. (Use Adam Princes new I-85/I-40 link for pics)

The high speed and rush ends as US 421 departures off I-40/Green I-85 onto Martin Luther King Blvd. The highway is briefly a boulevard, but soon becomes an expressway. This expressway has excellent sight distance, few at-grades, and long turn lanes, yet it has a speed limit of only 55. The at grades have little signs saying that US 421 will be a freeway with grade separations. Signs also tell adjacent landowners not to put driveways on the expressway. However, there are no current projects in the Transportation Improvement Plan to upgrade US 421 to full freeway standards between Greensboro and Siler City. The Siler City Bypass, which has been upgraded to a freeway, has 3 foot shoulders, rumble strip and wired guardrail. US 421 has a 65-mph speed limit as it bypasses this western Chatham county town.

The freeway downgrades to a Super 2-lane expressway, although construction is underway to upgrade the highway to a 4-lane expressway. There is one grade separated diamond interchange, serving the town of Goldston in southwestern Chatham County.

Construction is underway to build an east-west Sanford bypass which will carry US 421 and NC 87 around the northern fringe of Sanford in Lee County. The area most noticeable at this time where the construction is slowing traffic down is along the northern end of the US 1/15/501 Sanford bypass. The speed limit through the work zone between the US 1 Business/US 15/501/NC 87 exit to the US 421/NC 87(Horner Blvd) exit the speed limit has dropped from 60 mph to 50 mph. It is possible the McNeill Road exit may be gone or partially modified to make room for the new interchange for US 1 but it is uncertain at this moment. US 421/NC 87 currently multiplex through the town of Sanford as Horner Boulevard, a road with an un-redeeming 35 mph speed limit from the US 1/15/501 Bypass to the NC 78 (Main St) signal in the eastern part of Sanford, where the speed limit rises to 45mph. <use NC 87 page to talk about the town of Sanford>

As US 421 and NC 87 split away from each other leaving Sanford, US 421 downgrades to Super 2-lane Expressway with very few at-grade intersections. There are currently no plans to dualize US 421 from the east-west Sanford Bypass towards Harnett County. After passing the McArthur Road signal at the Harnett County line, the expressway becomes a regular 2 lane highway with driveways as it travels towards. Harnett County will not see any new road building along US 421 until after 2012 as well. In the town of Lillington, it runs north of downtown as a 4 lane arterial. US 421 then veers along the right turning lane at the NC 210 signal, turning towards Campbell University and Dunn.

During the mid 1990's, NCDOT widened this stretch of US 421 & NC 27 between the NC 210 signal and Erwin from 2 lanes to 4-5 lanes. While NC 27 turns left and terminates in Benson (near the I-40/I-95 interchange) after only 20 miles in Benson, US 421 still has a long haul towards Wilmington. US 421 traverses through the heart of Campbell University with a lower speed limit, resulting in a busy crosswalk available for students to use. As a boulevard in Dunn, US 421 is a long connects the local area businesses as well as the interstate amenities off of I-95.

Sampson County allows US 421 to traverse about fifty miles from the top to the bottom of the county, which is mostly farmland. The northern half of US 421 in Sampson County was resurfaced in June / July of 2004. The resurfacing project added new turn lanes and widened the shoulder up to 3 feet. US 421 travels around the town of Clinton on a freeway bypass. Many intersections on US 421 through Sampson County and Pender County have blinkers.

US 421 becomes a 4-lane Arterial at a point twenty-five miles away from Wilmington. The 4 laning of US 421 likely existed before I-40 was extended east of I-95 towards Castle Hayne (north of Wilmington). The highway is a long straight away with excellent sight distance, but it has a speed limit of only 55 mph. Approaching the New Hanover County line (and briefly into Brunswick county and back to New Hanover), US 421 runs through the heart of the industrial areas outside of Wilmington as a 5-lane highway with a continuous center turn lane. After the NC 132 signal, US 421 quickly approaches the US 17/74/76 interchange and enters Wilmington.

Known as Carolina Beach Blvd through Wilmington, US 421 serves the state port and is the main highway towards Kure Beach, Carolina Beach and Ft Fisher. After its signal past NC 132 (College Road), it continues as a 4-lane Arterial towards its southern terminus at Ft Fisher.

History:

Junction Log (Eastbound):

Sources:
North Carolina DOT, Matt Steffora, NC transportation map 2004, JT Legg.

Last Updated: 6/19/05

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