| NC 16 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by NCDOT | ||||
| Length: | 143.8 mi[1] (231.4 km) | |||
| Existed: | early 1920s – present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end: | NC 75 in Waxhaw | |||
| I-485 in Charlotte I-277 / US 74 in Charlotte I-77 / US 21 in Charlotte I-85 in Charlotte I-40 in Conover US 70 in Conover |
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| North end: | SR 16 at the VA line near Grassy Creek | |||
| Location | ||||
| Counties: | Union, Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba, Alexander, Wilkes, Ashe | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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North Carolina Highway 16 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It runs from NC 75, in Waxhaw, to the Virginia state line, near the community of Grassy Creek.
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Starting in the heart of Waxhaw, NC 16 goes north through Weddington and into Charlotte as Providence Road. In Uptown Charlotte, NC 16 briefly overlaps 3rd Street, then merges with I-277, goes north around Uptown and then exits the city in a northwest direction as Brookshire Boulevard (Note - Southbound travelers exiting I-277 (exit 2A) must make a u-turn at the end of the exit ramp to the left, then take another left onto 3rd Street, to stay on NC 16).
After passing the Catawba River, NC 16 becomes a rural freeway through Gaston, Lincoln, and most of Catawba counties (currently an 8.5-mile (13.7 km) gap between freeway's end and Newton). After passing Conover, NC 16 become a two-lane rural road through Alexander and Wilkes counties (with exception in Wilkesboro).
Entering Ashe County, it connects with the Blue Ridge Parkway and then travels, on a somewhat curvy-road, to Jefferson. From Jefferson, it goes north, as a relatively straight mountain road, into the Commonwealth of Virginia near Grassy Creek. Though changed as Virginia State Route 16, it continues through the state then entering West Virginia as West Virginia Route 16, ending in St. Marys, West Virginia (a three-state grand total of 474.3 miles (763.3 km)).[1]
| County | Location | Mile[1] | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Waxhaw | 0 | NC 75 (Main Street) – Monroe, Lancaster | NC 16 begins |
| Weddington | 6.5 | Rea Road | ||
| 7 | NC 84 east (Weddington Road) – Monroe | |||
| Mecklenburg | Charlotte | 10 | I-485 (Governor James G. Martin Freeway) – Pineville, Concord | |
| 13 | NC 51 (Pineville-Matthews Road) | |||
| 22 | I-277 south / US 74 west to NC 27 (John Belk Freeway) |
End of I-277 south and US 74 west overlaps; southbound NC 16 must take a u-turn at end of ramp then turn left onto 3rd Street | ||
| NC 16 overlaps with Interstate 277 (exits 2A to 5) | ||||
| 24.5 | I-77 / I-277 / US 21 (Bill Lee Freeway) – Statesville, Columbia | North end of I-277 overlap | ||
| 25 | Beatties Ford Road – Johnson C. Smith University | |||
| 26.5 | I-85 – Greensboro, Spartanburg | |||
| 32 | I-485 (Craig Lawing Freeway) – Pineville, Huntersville | |||
| Gaston | Lucia | 35 | To NC 273 (Lucia Riverbend Highway) |
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| 37.5 | NC 16 Bus. north (Lucia Riverbend Highway) |
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| Lincoln | Lowesville | 42 | NC 73 – Lincolnton, Huntersville | |
| Catawba | 51 | NC 150 – Lincolnton, Mooresville | ||
| 53 | NC 16 Bus. south – Denver |
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| 61.5 | NC 16 Bus. north (Charlotte Highway) |
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| 62.5 | NC 10 – Catawba | |||
| Conover | 65.5 | US 70 (Conover Boulevard East) – Conover, Claremont | ||
| 67 | I-40 – Conover, Hickory, Statesville | |||
| 67.2 | NC 16 Bus. south (1st Avenue North and 1st Avenue South) |
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| Alexander | Taylorsville | 81 | US 64 – Lenoir, Statesville | |
| 82.5 | NC 90 (Main Street) | Brief .5-mile (0.80 km) concurrency | ||
| Wilkes | Moravian Falls | 96 | NC 18 south – Lenoir | South end of NC 18 overlap |
| Wilkesboro | 99.5 | US 421 south / NC 18 north – Winston-Salem | South end of US 421 and north end of NC 18 overlaps | |
| NC 16 overlaps with US 421 (mile markers 283-287) | ||||
| 104 | US 421 north – Boone | North end of US 421 overlap | ||
| Ashe | 120 | Blue Ridge Parkway | ||
| 120.5 | NC 163 west – West Jefferson | |||
| 127 | NC 88 east – Laurel Springs, Sparta | East end of NC 88 overlap | ||
| Jefferson | 130 | US 421 south / NC 88 west – Jefferson, West Jefferson | South end of US 221 and west end of NC 88 overlaps | |
| 132 | US 221 north – Twin Oaks | North end of US 221 overlap | ||
| 136 | Old Highway 16 – Crumpler | |||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus • Closed/Former • Incomplete access • Unopened |
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Since 1990, NC 16 spawn two business loops:
On Thursday, July 30, 2009 The four-lane divided NC16 opened to traffic to Optimist Club Rd. in the Triangle community, south of Denver in eastern Lincoln County, with the next section to open in October, 2009 which will extend to St. James Church Rd. just west of Denver, NC in eastern Lincoln County, NC. Northbound drivers on NC16 will need to exit at St. James Church Rd. and travel east app. 1 mile to intersect with present-day NC16 and then turn left to continue north on NC16 toward Conover, NC.
NC 16 is expected to be rerouted onto a new bypass route in northwestern Mecklenburg, eastern Gaston, eastern Lincoln, and southeastern Catawba counties. When completed, this will become the second limited-access stretch of NC 16 (as such, I-277 shares part of the one existing portion). The new bypass is expected to be completed by 2010. In 2008, widening began on the fast-growing part of the road in Union County, which consists of the southernmost part of the highway. The road will be widened from I-485 to Rea RD, south of Weddington. Construction of a new 4-lane "Superstreet" design portion of NC 16 is underway starting in Conover at the Wal-Mart at I-40 and will end in Charlotte.
| Interstates | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interstate 77 | Brookshire/John Belk | Interstate 85 | I-485 (Outerbelt) | ||||
| Major U.S. Highways | |||||||
| US 29 (Wilkinson/North Tryon) | US 74 (Wilkinson/Independence) | US 321 | |||||
| Major North Carolina State/Charlotte City Highways | |||||||
| Brookshire/Providence | W.T. Harris Boulevard | Albemarle Road | Billy Graham | ||||