North Carolina Highway 801

NC 801 marker

NC 801

Route information

Maintained by NCDOT

Length:

53.9 mi^[1] (86.7 km)

Existed:

1927-1928^[2] – present

Major junctions

South end:

NC 152 in Mooresville

US 70 near Cleveland

I‑40 in Hillsdale

North end:

US 601 near Farmington

Location

Counties:

Iredell, Rowan, Davie

Highway system

North Carolina Highway System

←

I‑795

I‑840

→

North Carolina Highway 801 is a primary state highway in the state of North Carolina. The highway runs north–south, traversing in the central Piedmont.

Route description

A two-lane rural highway, it traverses 53.9 miles (86.7 km), from Mooresville to US 601, near Farmington. It links several small towns and communities, including Cooleemee, Bermuda Run, Advance, and Hillsdale.

History

NC 801 was first commissioned in 1927-28 as a short route traveling east–west from to NC 65 (now U.S. Highway 158) at Hillsdale. The route was extended south from its eastern terminus to connect with NC 90 (now U.S. Highway 64) by 1930, becoming a north–south route. In 1933, the route was extended again, from NC 90 southewest to Mooresville, replacing all of NC 803, which ran from U.S. Highway 601 south of Mocksville to NC 26(now U.S. Highway 29) in Mooresville. Between 1934 and 1936, NC 801 was rerouted in the Hillsdale area, eliminating a concurrency with US 158. In the early 1950s, another short concurrency, with US 64, was replaced with a continuous alignment. When US 70 was shifted onto a new alignment, so did the NC 801 concurrency in 1956-58.^[2]

North Carolina Highway 803

Established as a new primary routing in 1931 as a spur of NC 80 (now US 601) to Cooleemee. In 1932 it was extended southwest, through Barber, to NC 150 (now NC 152), in Mooresville. In 1933, it was replaced by an extension of NC 801.^[3]

Trivia

NC 801 is the only surviving 800 series route in North Carolina and has held that title since 1941.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Carolina Highway 801.