The Highways of North Carolina
N.C. 36 
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N.C. 36  10.6 miles
The Road: Begins at NC 42-50 and ends at US 70/NC 42 Clayton, all within Johnston County
Towns and Attractions: Johnston Co: Clayton
History: NC 36 appeared in February 2025 replacing NC 42 from NC 50 to I-42, duplexing with I-42, then replacing SR 1560 to end at US 70/NC 42 Clayton.

NC 36 #1: Born as part of the late 1934 Great Renumbering. It ran from US 19-23 (current SR 1540) near Forks of Ivy north to Mars Hill then north to Sams Gap, where it continued into Tennessee as TN 81. In the early days of NC 36, it didn't completely follow today's US 23. Instead, it followed today's US 23 to the settlement of California, then veered off onto SR 1347 Chandler Creek Rd, back across US 23 near Faust, then west along SR 1503, Old US 23, to modern US 23-A which it followed to Tennessee. This was a replacement for a piece of NC 213 below Mars Hill, the western half of NC 31, and all of NC 311.
Between 1937-44, NC 36 was removed from the road through Faust and put on the modern US 23 alignment. So even though the road is called Old US 23, it was never part of US 23.
In 1938, NC 36 was given a bypass to the east of Mars Hill, along the modern US 23 alignment before I-26 came through. The old route through Mars Hill became NC 36-A.
About 1947, US 19-23 was given its modern routing in the Mars Hill area, which was along NC 36. However, NC 36 remained on the route down to the NC 36-A south end.
In 1952, NC 36 was killed when US 23 was rerouted over its entirety.


NC 36 #2: The second NC 36 was created when the first one was killed in 1952. This NC 36 was assigned to the old NC 36-A below Mars Hill.
This NC 36 was shown on Official maps through the 74-75 issue, about the time the US 19-23 freeway came along. NC 36 was demoted to SR 1609 at that time.

1933 Official
NC 311 north of Mars Hill
1933 official
1936 Official
NC 36 appears
1936 official
1944 Madison County map
NC 36 bypasses Mars Hill
1944 Madison County
1953 Official
US 23 replaces NC 36
1953 official
1953 Madison County map
NC 36 replaces NC 36-A
1953 Madison County

Comment: Today's NC 36 was created to eliminate confusion regarding "route 42" for emergency responses in Johnston County, since NC 42 was intersecting the newly designated I-42. However, this now leaves a discontinuous NC 42 (the segment east of NC 36 could have been NC 36 to NC 11 and NC 350 could have been restored to the Ahoskie-Colerain bit. I wonder if there will be signs for NC 42 traffic to follow NC 36?

Last Update: 20 February 2025

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