North Carolina
 

US 64:


Summary - Lenoir to Whalebone Junction:

Detailed Description:

Traveling across the state from Murphy to Manteo, US 64 is North Carolinas longest highway, with a length of 543 miles [1] . While a 2-lane highway for much of the distance between Murphy and Asheboro, it runs through very scenic areas courtesy of the Appalachian Mountains and the high hills known as the “Uwharrie Mountains.” The terrain east of Asheboro starts off as rolling hills and gradually becomes flat ground as it leaves the eastern suburbs of Raleigh. The following description covers US 64 from Lenoir to its eastern terminus at Whalebone Junction:

Although the NCDOT transportation maps mark US 64 between Lenoir and Statesville as a principal 2-lane highway, the highway is actually a much better route than most 2-lane highways in North Carolina. Between Lenoir and Taylorsville, US 64 is an Improved 2-lane Highway with straightened curves and good sight distances. Between Taylorsville and Statesville, US 64 is a Super-2 Expressway. This segment of US 64 has a fence running along the highway to prohibit driveway access. There are also designated left and right turn lanes at nearly every intersection US 64 passes through.

Further east, US 64 is a congested 2-lane highway between Mocksville and Lexington. Some through-travel motorists from I-40 use US 64 as an alternate route to reach Raleigh while avoiding Greensboro, Burlington, and the Research Triangle Park. US 64 gets progressively worse between Lexington and Asheboro where it is still  2 lanes with moderate to heavy congestion. This is due to people wanting to avoid congestion along I-85/I-40!  Unfortunately, the stretch between Lexington and Asheboro is not slated to be four lanes until at least after 2012. For the short term, the NCDOT has built numerous left and right turn lanes as temporary relief along this dangerous stretch of road until funding comes along after 2012 to dualize US 64.

As US 64 reaches closer to Asheboro, it will be getting a new bypass in 2012 which will realign US 64 along the southern extents of Asheboro. In addition to shifting through-traffic off of the congested Dixie Drive (the current US 64), this bypass will better facilitate zoo bound traffic to the North Carolina State Zoo. Dixie Drive, a 5-lane road lined with restaurants, retail stores and the Randolph Mall, is the main commercial boulevard of Asheboro. Although the new highway will bypass Dixie Drive in Asheboro, it will not bypass the towns of Franklinville and Ramseur, where there are also boulevard segments with speed limits of 45 mph and 35 mph.

From east of Ramseur to Siler City, US 64 is a 4-lane Arterial which then becomes a boulevard in the town of Siler City. There are currently no plans to build a bypass of Siler City. From Siler City to Pittsboro, US 64 is a 4-lane Arterial. Then, it travels around Pittsboro on a freeway bypass. Before the Pittsboro Bypass was built, US 64 went through downtown Pittsboro, traveling through a traffic circle with the Chatham County Courthouse in the middle of it. The circle was once heavily bombarded with through-traffic, since US 15/501 also travels through it. Studies are underway to re-route US 15/501 along a new eastern Pittsboro bypass which will be 2 lanes with ROW available for a 4-lane upgrade in the future. The northern end of the US 15/501 bypass will be at US 64, and US 15/501 will then multiplex along US 64 to the current US 15/501 exit near Northwood High School. In addition, the US 15/501/NC 87 segment from the southern Pittsboro city limits to the Lee County Line is an Improved 2-lane Highway that will be easy to widen to four lanes.

From Pittsboro to NC 751 east of Jordan Lake, US 64 is a 4-lane Expressway with fences to prohibit driveways. There is a short 4-lane Arterial segment with many driveway connections between NC 751 and NC 55. From NC 55 to US 1, the increased commercial and residential development along US 64 indicates the far reaching sprawl of Apex. Despite the development, US 64 is an expressway through Apex and the western part of Cary.  At the eastern end of the expressway, US 64 multiplexes with US 1 as a freeway and then multiplexes with I-40/I-440 through the southern extents of Raleigh. US 64 then turns east along the Knightdale Bypass, a 65 mph freeway with three lanes in each direction. The new highway opened on July 12, 2005. The former segment of US 64 is now designated as US 64 Business, and forms an extension of the US 64 Business that formerly began east of Knightdale. This means that there is now a continuous freeway connection from Raleigh to Williamston.

The US 64 freeway from Wendell to Williamston is widely considered to be a boring, long and bland stretch of roadway, with a 70mph speed limit except through Rocky Mount. East of Williamston, US 64 is a 4-lane Arterial, but it again becomes a freeway from Plymouth to Columbia. From there, it is a two lane highway all the way to Manns Harbor where it multiplexes with US 264 across Roanoke Sound and eventually makes landfall at the Outer Banks. US 64 ends at “Whalebone Junction,” which is also the endpoint of US 264 and US 158.

US 64 is slated to be 4-laned on all remaining two lane segments from Lenoir to Whalebone Junction (with the exception of the segment paralleling I-40 between Statesville and Mocksville). Four lane dualization projects west of Lenoir will only occur in certain areas, since primary highways such as US 74 and I-40 divert traffic away from US 64 in western North Carolina.
 

Junction Log:

Sources:
Matt Steffora [1], Bob Goudreau, Adam Prince, Gribblenation, AA Roads, John Lansford via E-Mail on US 15/501 & US 64 in Pittsboro, WRAL on speed limit change on US 64 east of Raleigh.

Last Updated: 11/16/05

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