North Carolina Highway 54
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|||||||||
| NC 54 |
|||||||||
| Length: | 58 mi (93 km) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formed: | 1929[1] | ||||||||
| East end: |   I-440/US 1 in Raleigh, North Carolina |
||||||||
| Major junctions: |
 I-40 near Raleigh; NC 55 in Durham; I-40 in Durham;  US 15-501 in Chapel Hill; I-40-85 in Graham |
||||||||
| West end: |   US 70/NC 62 in Burlington, NC |
||||||||
| Counties: | Wake, Durham, Orange, Alamance | ||||||||
| Major cities: | Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville, Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Graham | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
NC 54 is a North Carolina state highway and a semi-urban traffic artery connecting Raleigh to its western suburbs, and extending outward to Burlington.
Contents |
[edit] Route description
NC 54's eastern terminus is at the US 1/I-440 Beltline, at the Hillsborough Street (exit 3) in western Raleigh, North Carolina. This used to be the junction for US 64 in the 1990s before that highway was rerouted along I-40. NC 54 westbound ends at US 70/NC 62 in Burlington, North Carolina.
The route is a fairly major road in the Triangle area, and runs over several local important streets:
- Hillsborough Street in Raleigh
- Chapel Hill Road in Cary and Morrisville
- Maynard Road in Cary
- Fordham Boulevard in Chapel Hill
- Harden Street in Graham
- Chapel Hill Road in Burlington
The route also runs through the Piedmont Triad region, but it is not usually considered a major road there. A notable fact is that NC 54 crosses I-40 four times, more than most nearby routes.
[edit] Nearby points of interest
Significant attractions along NC 54 include the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill and the NC State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. NC 54 runs near UNC Chapel Hill; Meredith College, the NC State Veterinary School, Carter-Finley Stadium, and the RBC Center lie near the route's junction with the I-440 beltline (exit 3). The North Carolina State University North Campus and the university's Memorial Bell Tower is located near its eastern terminus. NC 54/Hillsborough Street just inside the beltway is adorned with numerous businesses targeted at college students; there are several bookstores, coffee shops, and small restaurants along this stretch of road. NC 54 also runs through a section of Research Triangle Park.
[edit] History
The original routing (1929) of NC 54 mostly followed today's route, but was shorter. It originally ran from Chapel Hill to Nelson and was extended west to Graham in the 1930s. It was extended east to Raleigh along the former U.S. 70-A when it was decommissioned in the 1950s.
U.S. 1 occupied the section of Hillsborough Street from the I-440 beltline to downtown Raleigh in the 1950s and 1960s and U.S. 1 Business occupied it in the 1980s. A project is currently underway to construct traffic circles along this section of Hillsborough Street inside the beltline in an effort to persuade travelers to take nearby parallel route Western Boulevard in and out of downtown Raleigh.
In 1997, NC 54 through central Cary was rerouted from Chapel Hill Road to the northern section of Maynard Road to avoid the downtown area. Maynard Road is a loop road that encircles downtown Cary.
