U.S. 311
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| U.S. 311 58 miles | |||
| The Road: |
Begins at US 52/NC 8 Winston-Salem (Forsyth County) and ends at the Virginia State Line near Draper (Rockingham County).
Nationally US 311 runs from Randleman to US 58 Business in Danville, VA |
Towns and Attractions: | Forsyth Co.: Winston-Salem, Walkertown
Stokes Co.: Walnut Cove Rockingham Co.: Madison, Eden, Draper |
History: |
US 311 is an original US route appearing in late 1926 running from US 1/NC 50 (now just Pinehurst St) Aberdeen northwest via Pinehurst, Candor, Asheboro, High Point, Winston-Salem, and Madison before heading north into Virginia above Stoneville heading for Roanoke, Virginia. In this routing US 311 was assigned to NC 70 from Aberdeen to Randleman and NC 77 from Randleman to Virginia. US 311 used today's NC 5 from S. Pinehurst St to Pinehurst, then NC 211 west to Candor except Dead Mans Curve Rd and Eagle Springs Rd in the Eagle Springs area; Clement Rd east of Candor. US 311 followed W. Main St past US 220 ALT around north to US 220 ALT. US 311 then followed US 220 ALT to Star, then used McBride Lumber Rd and 220 ALT to Ether. US 311 then used Cagle Rd which is now cutoff by I-73/74; Odom Dr; Plantation Circle; Asbury Church Rd. At Asbury, US 311 headed northeast on Gap Rd/Old US 220, then NC 705 to Seagrove. US 311 followed US 220 ALT to US 220 Business which it used through Ulah and Asheboro except for Cedar Grove Rd and possible an "Old State Hwy" loop. US 311 then cut northwest on Old US 311 before Randleman, then followed current US 311 through Sophia. Original US 311 followed this road past where 311 now goes to meet I-74 which runs as Main St through Archdale and High Point. US 311 then followed Old Winston Rd loop, then N. Main St to High Point Rd through Union Cross until Sprague St. Then US 311 followed Sprague west to Thomasville Rd north to Waughtown west to Main St in southern Winston-Salem. US 311 used Main (also US 121) north into downtown, then Liberty St northeast to Old Walkertown Rd which US 311 followed to NC 66 then east to Harley Dr east to current US 311 in Walkertown. US 311 then followed its current routing to Madison. US 311 then used US 220 Business through Mayodan and Henry St through Stoneville, then the Price Rd segment west of current US 220 before ducking into Virginia at the current US 220 crossing. In 1932, US 311 was extended south as an addition to NC 241 through Laurinburg to end at US 301/NC 22 Rowland. I believe US 311 was placed on modern US 220 ALT from Ether to Asbury before 1934. In late 1934, US 311 south was truncated to US 64 (now NC 42) Asheboro. Asheboro to Candor became part of US 220; Candor to Pinehurst became NC 2; Pinehurst to Rowland became part of US 501 (Glasgow St and South St in Aberdeen; US 501 Business in Laurinburg).
In 1937 or 1938, US 311 was moved from Sprague Rd to Waughtown Rd south of Winston-Salem, then sent north along Stadium Dr and Claremont Ave to 5th west to Patterson north to Liberty. 5th St was part of US 158-421 but the rest was new routing. The old route using Main remained part of US 52/NC 8. About 1942, US 311 was removed from 5th-Patterson-Liberty-Old Walkerstown and instead went Claremont to 7th east to New Walkerstown Rd. 5th-Patterson remained part of NC 109. Between 1939-44, US 311 was removed from Old Winston Rd loop north of NC 68.
In 1966, US 311 south was truncated to the US 220-311 split south of Randleman. US 311 from here south to Salisbury St in Asheboro remained US 220 or the new US 220 Business. Note that even though US 64 moved from Salisbury to its current route south of downtown in 1953, maps show US 311 always ending at Salisbury St.
In 1970, US 311 was rerouted and given one-way splits in Winston Salem: NB used 4th east from Claremont to Dunleith Ave north to 5th. SB used 5th west from Dunleith to Claremont south. US 311 then used 5th from Dunleith east to Cameron Ave north to 7th. In Nov 1972 (NCDOT), US 311 south was truncated to the new US 220 freeway. The part east to US 220 towards Randleman became part of US 220, as the freeway was only finished to the US 311 exit. In 1974, US 220 was removed from what had been US 311 from the US 220 freeway east to US 220 Business. State officials show secondary over to 220 Business while county maps up through at least 1980 show it as US 311 again. At any rate, today for sure US 311 ends at the I-73/US 220 freeway. In May 1977 (NCDOT), US 311 was rerouted in Winston-Salem to eliminate the one-way splits and returned to using Claremont to 7th.
In 1983 or 1984, US 311 was removed from High Point Rd north of the High Point NCL and Waughtown Rd and placed on new freeway, then replaced a little NC 109 on Thomasville Rd north to Stadium Dr. In 1996, US 311 was removed from Stadium/Claremont in Winston-Salem and instead followed I-40 west to US 52/NC 8 north to use Martin Luther King Jr Dr southeast back to meet 7th from the opposite direction.
In Sept 2003 (NCDOT), US 311 was extended east with US 220 Business out to US 220, then north with US 220, then east with NC 135, then east with NC 770 to end at NC 14 Eden. This extension went several years without being posted.
In Dec 2005 (NCDOT), US 311 was given a bypass of High Point using I-85 Bus/US 29-70 northeast from Main St to new US 311 freeway west around the north side of High Point to NC 68 and then over what had been SR 1979 freeway back to Main St. Main St through High Point became US 311 Business.
In Sept 2011 (NCDOT), US 311 was removed from I-85 Bus/US 29-70 and placed on more new freeway southeast bypassing Archdale. US 311 then used SR 1928 Cedar Square Rd to get from the new freeway back to US 311. The old road through Archdale became SR 1009. In Jan 2013 (NCDOT), US 311 was extended north following NC 770 through Draper and to Virginia. This had first been decided by both NC and VA in August 2012 but waited for AASHTO approval to formally do it. When I-74 was finished between Cedar Square Rd and I-73, US 311 was signed on the new freeway down to Exit 84. NCDOT never officially moved US 311, however, as noted in their truncation change document in 2019 showed. In Jan 2019 (NCDOT), US 311 was officially truncated to US 52/NC 8 Winston-Salem, though signage was not removed until early 2021. Most of this was concurrent with other routes - US 52, I-40 and I-74. The one bit that was not - from I-73 to I-74 near Randleman became more SR 1009.
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Comments: |
I have always thought it made more sense to extend US 360 west to Winston-Salem especially now that it has finally been truncated to Winston-Salem. |
