North Carolina Highway 50

NC 50
Route information
Maintained by NCDOT
Length:	155 mi (249 km)
Existed:	1940 – present
Major junctions
North end:	US 15 / NC 56 in Creedmoor, NC
	I-540 near Raleigh I-440 / I-40 in Raleigh US 301 in Benson I-40 near Newton Grove I-95 US 13 / US 117 in Newton Grove NC 24 near Kenansville US 17 in Holly Ridge
South end:	Anderson Boulevard in Topsail Beach
Location
Counties:	Granville, Wake, Johnston, Sampson, Duplin, Onslow, Pender
Highway system
North Carolina Highway System ← NC 49 NC 51 →

NC 50 is a major cross-state route in North Carolina that runs from near the Virginia border to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the major north/south route through Wake County and the state capital of Raleigh.

Route description

North of the Raleigh city center NC 50 uses Glenwood Avenue and Creedmoor Road on its way to Creedmoor and Oxford. Through downtown it uses a small (less than 1/2 mile) part of Wade Avenue, the southern end of Capital Boulevard, and the paired one-way streets of McDowell Street (Northbound) and Dawson Street (Southbound).

South of the city center it uses parts of S. Saunders and S. Wilmington streets (or rather, those streets use NC 50; the through route follows NC 50 and the streets come and go).

There are 2 concurrencies in and around Raleigh:

• US 70 between Creedmoor Road in Raleigh and Benson Road in Garner.
• US 401 and US 70 between Wade Avenue and Fayetteville Road at the Garner-Raleigh boundary line.

Throughout the entire length of these concurrencies, the route is known either by the road name OR as US 70. NC 50 or US 401 is ignored when referring to the route.

In Garner, NC 50 splits from US 70 by heading south on Benson Road. From this point to its southern terminus, it parallels I-40 towards Topsail Beach. There used to be a concurrency with NC 24 near Kenansville, but this is now NC 24 Business, as the mainline NC 24 has been routed to follow I-40 and NC 903 to bypass central Kenansville. The road makes a convenient (if slower) alternative to I-40, and was used as a construction detour for I-40 during construction of the US 70 Bypass interchange in Johnston County in 2006.

Nearby landmarks

• North Carolina State Capitol

History

The modern NC 50 bears little resemblance to the original 1920s NC 50. The original road is now the modern US 1, and the only city that the two routings had in common was Raleigh. When US 1 was designated, the old NC 50 was moved to its modern routing both south (1940s) and north (1960s, formerly known as US 15A) of Raleigh.

Major intersections

County	Location	Destinations	Notes
Pender	Topsail Beach	Trout Avenue	Southern terminus
	Surf City	NC 210 north (New River Drive) – North Topsail Beach	South end of concurrency with NC 210
		NC 210 west – Hampstead	North end of concurrency with NC 210
Onslow	Holly Ridge	US 17 – Wilmington, Jacksonville
Pender	Maple Hill	NC 53 – Burgaw, Jacksonville
Duplin	Chinquapin	NC 41 north – Beulaville	South end of concurrency with NC 41
		NC 41 south – Wallace	North end of concurrency with NC 41
	Kenansville	NC 24 Byp. / NC 903 (Kenansville Bypass) – Magnolia, La Grange
		NC 11 north (Main Street) / NC 24 east (Routledge Road) – Pink Hill, Beulaville	South end of concurrency with NC 11/24
		NC 11 south (Magnolia Extension) – Wallace	North end of concurrency with NC 11
	Warsaw	NC 24 west (College Street) – Clinton	North end of concurrency with NC 24
		US 117 south (Pine Street) – Magnolia	South end of concurrency with US 117
	Faison	US 117 north (Center Street) / NC 403 east (Main Street) – Calypso	North end of concurrency with US 117; South end of concurrency with NC 403
		NC 403 west to I-40 – Clinton, Newton Grove, Burgaw	North end of concurrency with NC 403
Sampson		NC 55 east – Mount Olive	South end of concurrency with NC 55
	Newton Grove	US 13 (Fayetteville Highway) / US 701 (Main/Clinton Streets) – Eastover, Goldsboro, Clinton, Four Oaks	Six-way intersection traffic circle
		I-40 – Benson, Dublin	Diamond interchange; Exit 341
		NC 55 west (Harnett-Dunn Highway) – Dunn	North end of concurrency with NC 55
Johnston	Peacocks Crossroads	NC 96 – Four Oaks, Selma
	Benson	NC 242 south (Walton Avenue) – Salemburg	South end of concurrency with NC 242
		I-95 – Dunn, Smithfield	Partial diamond interchange; Exit 79
		US 301 / NC 242 north (Wall Street) / NC 27 west – Dunn, Four Oaks	North end of concurrency with NC 242; South end of concurrency with NC 27; Eastern terminus of NC 27
		NC 27 west (Main Street) – Coats	North end of concurrency with NC 27
		NC 210 – Angier, Smithfield
		NC 42 – Fuquay-Varina, Clayton
Wake	Garner	US 70 east – Clayton	South end of concurrency with US 70
		US 401 south (Fayetteville Road) – Fuquay-Varina	South end of concurrency with US 401
	Raleigh	I-40 / I-440 / US 64 (Tom Bradshaw Freeway) – Cary, Benson, Zebulon	Partial cloverleaf interchange; Exit 298
		US 401 north (Capital Boulevard) – Louisburg	North end of concurrency with US 401; Trumpet interchange
		I-440 / US 1 – Cary, Wake Forest	Partial cloverleaf interchange
		US 70 west (Glenwood Avevnue) – Durham	North end of concurrency with US 70
		I-540 (Northern Wake Expressway) – Morrisville, Knightdale	Diamond interchange
		NC 98 (Durham Road) – Durham, Wake Forest	Cloverleaf interchange
Granville	Creedmoor	US 15 (Durham Avenue) / NC 56 (Wilton Avenue) – Durham, Oxford, Butner, Franklinton	Northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

External links

• "Topsail Island: Mayberry by the Sea" book