North Carolina Highway 97

North Carolina Highway 97 (NC 97) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina, connecting the cities of Zebulon and Rocky Mount with the vast rural coastal plains.

Route description
NC 97 begins at US 64 Business between the towns of Knightdale and Wendell. The nearest community is the unincorporated Eagle Rock. Through Wake County, the route closely parallels US 64, following it 1/2 mi to the south. After passing through the unincorporated community of Lizard Lick, NC 97 merges with US 64 Business and forms the main east–west street through the town of Zebulon, Gannon Avenue.

West of Zebulon, just past the Wake–Nash County line, NC 97 has an interchange with US 264. Through Nash County, NC 97 is mostly a rural road oriented east–west. After intersecting Interstate 95 (I-95), it turns to a more northeast–southwest alignment, passing Rocky Mount–Wilson Regional Airport, and then entering the city of Rocky Mount along West Raleigh Boulevard. In the center of Rocky Mount, NC 97 turns to a north–south alignment, and follows Arlington Street until it leaves the city, joining the east–west Cool Spring Road just north of the city limits. From here, NC 97 closely parallels the Tar River and through the small town of Leggett. After the bridge over Fishing Creek (a tributary of the Tar River), NC 97 intersects with US 258 and travels another 5 mi before ending at an intersection with NC 122 just outside the town of Hobgood.

History
There have been three designations of NC 97 since the creation of the North Carolina State Highway System in 1921. The first designation existed from 1920 to 1940 and was located between Plymouth and Pantego. In 1940, a second NC 97 was established travelling from Windsor to Winton and existed until 1952.

The current designation of NC 97 was originally designated as NC 95 from 1930 to 1961. The highway designation was changed to NC 97 in 1961, coinciding with the establishment of I-95 in the state.

Previous designations
NC 97 first appeared as an original North Carolina State Highway, travelling from NC 91 in Pantego to NC 90 in Plymouth. The highway followed an unimproved roadway in a slightly northwesterly direction between the two locations. By 1929, the majority of NC 97's routing shifted. From Pantego, the highway followed a graded roadway to the northwest before making a turn slightly to the northeast as it neared the Beaufort–Washington County line. The highway continued in a slightly northeasterly orientation for the remainder of its route to Plymouth, making the highway 25 mi in total. By 1935, NC 99 was established running from US 264 east of Bunyan to NC 97 in Beaufort County. This was the only connection to a numbered highway outside of NC 97's termini. NC 97 was eliminated by 1940, with its route from NC 99 to Plymouth becoming part of NC 32 and the route south of NC 99 to Pantego becoming a secondary road.

NC 97 reappeared on the 1940 North Carolina State Transportation map, travelling from US 17 in Windsor north through Powellsville and Ahoskie to NC 30 and NC 35 in Winton. The highway replaced a 6 mi segment of NC 30 north of Windsor, a second segment of NC 30 between Ahoskie and Winton, in addition to all of NC 30A. At the time of establishment, all of NC 97 was paved except for an 11 mi segment south of Powellsville which was classified as a gravel road. This segment was paved by 1948. NC 97 was extended north from Winton to NC 37 1 mi south of the North Carolina–Virginia state line by 1949. From Winton, the highway followed a concurrency with US 158 for 6 mi until splitting onto its own routing west of Roduco. NC 97 then ran northeast for 8 mi until reaching NC 37. It joined in concurrency with NC 37 to the north for approximately 1 mi until reaching its new terminus at the North Carolina–Virginia state line. The highway continued north as Virginia State Route 37. In 1951, the entirety of NC 97 was replaced by an extension of US 13.

Current routing
NC 97 was originally NC 95 in the 1930s. It was renumbered in 1961 to avoid conflict with I-95. In 1975, its western terminus was extended to replace the old alignment of US 64 Business north of Wendell; a new US 64 Bypass freeway was built farther north of Wendell.

North Carolina Highway 95
North Carolina Highway 95 (NC 95) was established in 1930 as a new primary routing from NC 40 in Rocky Mount to NC 12 in Lawrence. In 1933, NC 95 was extended south along US 301/NC 40 through Rocky Mount, then west on new routing to US 64/US 264/NC 39/NC 90/NC 91 in Zebulon. In 1935, NC 95 was extended east to NC 122 near Hobgood. In 1961, because of the establishment of I-95, NC 95 was renumbered as NC 97.

Rocky Mount alternate route
North Carolina Highway 95A (NC 95A) was an alternate spur route from NC 95 to US 64/NC 90 (Thomas Avenue), via Legget Road, Myrtle Avenue, Grand Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. By around 1940, it was downgraded to secondary road (SR 1243).


 * Major intersections