U.S. 29
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Photo: US 29 in Grover, showing a rare 2-lane segment of US 29 (Adam Prince)
| U.S. 29 173 miles | |||
| The Road: | Enters from South Carolina at Grover (Cleveland County) and leaves into Virginia near Pelham (Caswell County). Nationally the road runs from US 90-98 Pensacola, FL to MD 99 Ellicott City, MD | Towns and Attractions: | Cleveland Co.: Grover, Kings Mountain
Gaston Co.: Gastonia, Lowell, McAdenville, Cramerton, Belmont Mecklenburg Co.: Charlotte Cabarrus Co.: Charlotte Motor Speedway, W. Concord, Kannapolis Rowan Co.: Landis, China Grove, Salisbury, Spencer Davidson Co.: Lexington, Thomasville Randolph Co.: None Guilford Co.: High Point, Greensboro Rockingham Co.: Reidsville Caswell Co.: None |
History: |
US 29 is an original US Highway. In North Carolina it was attached to NC 205, running only from the S.C. line at Grover to US 74 Kings Mountain. Here is a geographic look at US 29's progress since then:
South Carolina through Charlotte
About 1936, US 29's route through Charlotte was altered. Initially, US 29 used Wilkinson Blvd, Morehead St, Mint St, Trade St and Tryon St. Now US 29 used Graham to Trade to Tryon.
In 1943 or 1944, US 29 was rerouted to use Dalton to transfer from Graham to Tryon. About 1957, US 29 was placed on its bypass of Kings Mountain (new construction), leaving behind an extended NC 216 and US 74.
In 1958, US 29 was removed from Charlotte, and was routed over Little Rock Rd, I-85 and the current US 29 CONN northeast of Charlotte. The old route remained US 74, US 21 and NC 49. Morehead St became unnumbered. Eventually (1960) this route became US 29 Bus and today is again mainline US 29. In 1961 or 1962, US 29 was removed from Little Rock Rd and extended further west on newly opened I-85 to NC 273, then used NC 273 back south to US 74, leaving behind more US 29 Bus with US 74. In 1963, US 29 was removed from NC 273 and I-85 and instead returned to its original routing through Charlotte (replacing US 29 Bus).
In the mid-90s, US 29 was rerouted to avoid what is now Bank of America Stadium. It now leaves Morehead at Mint St, then cuts back over to a rerouted Graham St. Charlotte to Greensboro
In 1940, US 29 and US 29-A swapped routings and US 29 again went directly through Kannapolis, Landis and China Grove. About 1941, US 29 was given its modern routing between the Yadkin River and outside Lexington. In 1948, US 29 was rerouted away from Newell and Harrisburg to instead use current US 29 via the speedway to West Concord.
Also in 1948, US 29 was again put on the bypass of Kannapolis, Landis and china Grove. All of this was a route swap with US 29-A.
Between 1945-49, US 29 was put back on its original High Point route using Westchester to Lexington to Greensboro Rd. This was a route swap with US 29A-70A.
About 1949, US 29 was given its modern routing between Lexington and Thomasville. In 1952, US 29 was given bypasses of Lexington and Thomasville, leaving behind US 29-A routes.
About 1957, US 29 was given its modern routing from Thomasville bypassing High Point, Jamestown and Sedgefield heading for Greensboro. The old routing through High Point became NC 68 and US 70-A. Highpoint to Sedgefield was US 29A-70A.
In 1960, US 29 was added to I-85 bypassing Salisbury and Spencer, leaving behind US 29 Bus. In 1964 or 1965, US 29 was returned to running through Salisbury and Spencer, replacing US 29 Bus.
Greensboro to Virginia
Between 1950-53, US 29 was split in southern Greensboro: NB continued to use Lee to Aycock. SB used Aycock, Spring Garden and Fairground down to Lee.
In 1956 or 1957, US 29 was given a new bypass around the west side of Reidsville, leaving behind US 29-A. About 1957, US 29 was removed from surface streets in Greensboro to its current routing. The old route through the city became US 29-A. In 1970, a new freeway was built east of Reidville from US 29 south to US 158. It is unclear what if anything was assigned to this freeway (US 29-A?). In 1973, US 29 was placed on new freeway to the east of Reidsville which was completed to north of Ruffin. The previous route including the west bypass of Reidsville became US 29 Bus. Between 1980-82, US 29 was placed on freeway north of Ruffin, leaving behind Rail Rd.
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Comments: |
US 29 in Virginia is known as the Seminole Trail. Oddly, the 1952 Shell Map shows US 29-74 east of Kings Mtn as the Seminole Trail, but this name appears nowhere else on the map.... US 29 is now the step-child for I-85 for most of its existence, but is still nearly all 4-lane. US 29 north of Greensboro is slated to be part of the coming I-785. Improvements to the semi-freeway between I-85 Business and NC 150 have been ongoing for a couple years now to facilitate that designation. A ggod example of early NC interstate configurations still exist on US 29 in places between Lexington and High Point |
Last Update: 12 March 2010
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