US 17-1 was an original US Route appearing in late 1926. It had been US 15 in the 1925 plan and after US 15 was moved further west thet tried and rejected US 13A and US 17W before settling on US 17-1. It began at US 17/NC 20 Market St in Wilmington, then headed north on 4th St to Nixon St east to today's McRae St. to leave the Wilmington area (none of these streets US 17-1 used in Wilmington is primary highway now). US 17-1 proceeded north on Castle Hayne Rd. At Castle Hayne US 17-1 used Old Bridge Site Rd to cross the NE Cape Fear River. US 17-1 followed US 117 and US 117 Business to Burgaw and Wallace. US 17-1 followed today's NC 11 to Kenansville. US 17-1 followed SR 1383 then today's NC 24 Business west to Warsaw, then US 117 to Faison and Calypso. US 17-1 picked us today's US 117-A into Mt. Olive. US 17-1 followed today's US 117 Bus through Goldsboro, then US 117 through Pikeville and Fremont. US 17-1 picked up today's US 301 via Dorothy Ln and Lattice Rd SE (cutoff by US 264 freeway). US 17-1 followed US 301, Forest Hills Loop, US 301 and Goldsboro St into Wilson, exiting via Herring St out to the current US 301/NC 42 jct. US 17-1 then followed US 301 north, used Elm City Rd through Elm City, US 301 through Sharpsburg, then US 301 Business through Rocky Mount. US 17-1 continued on US 301 through Whitakers and Enfield, then used US 301 Business through Halifax. Approaching Weldon, US 17-1 veered off US 301 and instead used Washington Ave into Weldon. US 17-1 then cut west on US 158 and Julian Allsbrook Hwy to Roanoke Rapids, then used NC 48 to Pleasant Hill into Virginia, where the route continued to Petersburg. US 17-1 followed NC 40 throughout. In 1930, US 17-1 south was truncated to a rerouted US 17/NC 20/NC 30 which was using a new bridge over the NE Cape Fear River from Parsley St. 3rd St south became US 17/NC 20/NC 30/NC 40. US 17-1/NC 40 ending at 4th and Market 1922 Auto Trails US 17-1/NC 40 truncated to 3rd and Nixon 1930 New Hanover County In Feb 1930 (AASHO), NC 40 was rerouted to run Weldon-Garysburg-Pleasant Hill (repacing NC 481) and the State Highway Commission said US 17-1 followed NC 40. AASHO was alerted a few months later and in August 1930 the State Engineer ordered that US 17-1 return to the Roanoke Rapids routing, and floating the idea of requesting US 17-1E and US 17-1W to preserve the policy that no town loses a US route once they got one. In June 1931 (AASHO), US 17-1 was officially rerouted to the Weldon-Garysburg-Pleasant Hill routing. In March 1932 (AASHO), NC petitioned SC to agree to extend US 17-1 south from Wilmington via Georgetown to Charleston. AASHO noted that the intent was to eventually move US 17 to the coast. In May 1932 (AASHO), NC and VA agreed to renumber US 17-1 as US 217 north of Wilson. Also in May 1932 (AASHO), NC requested that US 17-1 from Wilmington to Wilson be renumbered as US 417. In June 1932, AASHO renumbered US 17-1 from Wilmington to Wilson as US 117 and renumbered US 17-1 north of Wilson as US 301 instead. US 17-1 is one of two known hyphenated US routes (US 29A-1 is the other). North Carolina also floated US 70-1... US 17-1's original route out of Weldon May 1931 NCDOT submission to AASHO US 15 planned north out of Wilmington 1927 Rand McN US 17-1 is assigned instead 1928 Gen Draft US 117 Wilmington to Wilson 1934 Gen Draft US 301 Wilson to Virginia 1932 Texaco

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