North Carolina Roads - US 117

US 117


First five photos courtesy Lou Corsaro.


I-40 begins with the help of US 117, which then exits and leaves the Interstate alone. It seems like it was rerouted this way (perhaps from NC 133), because if it always went this way it would always have been signed this way.


Reading around the windshield scratch, while there's no drawbridge here anymore, there was one here over 200 years ago when this was still British land. In fact, they destroyed their own drawbridge as a military tactic (or just in frustration).


More NB white signs, mostly illegible, but I was able to place the George Burrington one near Burgaw.


From west of Goldsboro, through Faison at NC 403, to Warsaw. NCDOT's policy of signing the through route without a straight arrow can lead to misleading assemblies like that. That's right, US 117 SB does not turn right toward I-40.


In Fremont, courtesy Adam Prince. There's nothing unusual about this assembly, but this is now Business US 117. Well, maybe. See the next caption.


Poorly designed signs on US 13/117 NB, or just US 13, if you ask FHWA. As of late 2007, the US 117 freeway south to Goldsboro became I-795. NCDOT wants to move US 117 back to the Business route, and in fact has already made the change internally, but the FHWA is fighting back and claiming that US highways cannot be moved back to a lesser route once they have been improved. Obviously, this is a modern-day policy having nothing to do with the era of Interstate construction that lasted into the 1980's, and I disagree with it because people don't get a choice of which road to follow. Two routes running parallel are twice as interesting. I wonder if "Goldsboro" was removed from the right sign because the next several US 70 exits and prior cross streets all lead there as well. (In fact, I'm in city limits right here.)

To I-795, former US 117

Onto I-40
Onto NC 24
Onto US 13
Onto US 70
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