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According to Directoryaah, State Route 24 or NC-24 is a state route in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The road forms an east-west route from Charlotte via Fayetteville to Morehead City on the Atlantic coast. With a length of 450 kilometers, NC-24 is the longest state route in the state of North Carolina.

Travel directions

The western terminus on I-485 in Charlotte.

Charlotte – Fayetteville

State Route 24 begins in Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city. The starting point is not in the center but at a junction with Interstate 485, shortly after it crosses Interstate 77 in the north of the city. The road then follows WT Harris Boulevard through the north and east of Charlotte, which is one of Charlotte’s major urban arterials with 2×2 to 2×3 lanes and major intersections. There is a connection to Interstate 85 in the northeast of the city and Interstate 485 in the east.

Outside Charlotte, the road will have 2×2 lanes for a longer period of time or as a 5-lane road with center turn lane to the city of Albemarle, a route of more than 50 kilometers. This leads through the exurbs of Charlotte and rural area with a lot of forest between Charlotte and Albemarle. East of Albemarle the road is mainly single carriageway with oncoming traffic. A 2×2 lane bridge crosses the Pee Dee River. Near Biscoe is a connection to Interstate 74.

State Route 24 then continues east as a somewhat minor road. Many north-south US Highways are crossed in this region. Eventually the road curves south and passes through the larger town of Fayetteville, the route through Fayetteville is a major urban arterial and largely coincides with State Route 87. At the center of Fayetteville one crosses the Cape Fear River, where east of Fayetteville there is another spacious cloverleaf cloverleaf with Interstate 95.

Fayetteville – Morehead City

NC-24 near Swansboro.

East of I-95, State Route 24 crosses the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina. This is an area with quite a lot of afforestation but also meadows. State Route 24 is a 2×2 divided highway over a distance of almost 50 kilometers between Fayetteville and Clinton. Not far east of Clinton one crosses Interstate 40, the road here is a single carriageway, but between Kenansville and Jacksonville the road is again a 2×2 divided highway, the last part into the city of Jacksonville also coincides with US 258.

The road then follows US 17 over the Jacksonville freeway bypass. East of Jacksonville, the road is a 2×2 divided highway for 30 kilometers until Swansboro, where one reaches the Atlantic coast. The road here follows a 5-lane road with center turn lane through a more densely built-up coastal region. State Route 24 ends just before Morehead City then on US 70.

History

According to Ebizdir, the original State Route 24 of 1922 ran from Laurinburg via Fayetteville to Warsaw. In 1925 it was extended west to the South Carolina border and east to Kenansville. A second extension eastwards to the coast at Swansboro followed in 1930. In the 1930s, the trajectory of State Route 24 was changed several times due to the introduction of more US Highways in North Carolina. The portion west of Fayetteville largely became US 401. In 1941, the western terminus was changed to the city of Fayetteville, so the road only ran in eastern North Carolina from Fayetteville to Morehead City. In 1963, the western starting point was significantly changed, all the way to Charlotte, creating a 171-kilometer-long dual numbering with State Route 27.

State Route 24 is of significant importance to through traffic in North Carolina, providing a direct connection between several larger cities, such as Charlotte, Albemarle, Fayetteville, Jacksonville and Morehead City, a city that grew in importance with the opening of the enlarged Panama Canal. for shipping. The road also connects a number of major military bases, such as Fort Bragg, Pope Army Airfield and Camp Lejeune. For that reason, the road was designated a High Priority Corridor.

Charlotte – Albemarle

In the mid-1990s, WT Harris Boulevard in Charlotte was expanded into a wide city boulevard with 2×2 to 2×3 lanes. This is today an important outcrop of north and east Charlotte. State Route 24’s western starting point was originally I-77 in north Charlotte, but in 2008 it was extended 2 kilometers west with the opening of a new stretch of I-485.

The stretch from Charlotte to Albemarle has been widened in stages to a 2×2 divided highway, generally west to east, starting in the mid-1990s at Charlotte and completed around 2008 as far as Albemarle.

Albemarle – Fayetteville

In the early 1970s, a new bridge over the Cape Fear River opened in Fayetteville, straightening State Route 24’s route through the city. Originally, traffic often had to turn on the grid of downtown Fayetteville. In about 2002 the road between Spout Springs and Manchester near Fayetteville was widened to 2×2 lanes. On August 7, 2019, a 2×2 bypass of Troy opened to traffic.

Fayetteville – Jacksonville

In 1982, a bypass of Vander, a village just east of Fayetteville, opened. This bypass had a complete cloverleaf cloverleaf with shunting lanes with Interstate 95. Only later was the road between Vander and Clinton fully upgraded to 2×2 lanes, with diversions at Stedman, Autryville and Roseboro. The route between Vander and Roseboro was opened around 2017, the Roseboro bypass followed in 2018.

In the year 2000, State Route 24 was routed over I-40 between Warsaw and Kenansville. Kenansville’s 2×2 bypass was constructed in the 1990s, along with a large-scale doubling of State Rotue 24 between Kenansville and its junction with US 258 at Richlands, not far from Jacksonville.

In 2006, NC-24 was routed around Jacksonville over the bypass of US 17, the old route through the city has been a business route ever since .