North Carolina Highway 226

NC Highway 226
Route information
Maintained by NCDOT
Length:	101.0 mi (162.5 km)
Existed:	1961 – present
Major junctions
South end:	US 29 near Grover
	US 74 in Shelby US 64 near Dysartsville I‑40 near Marion US 221 in Marion US 70 in Marion US 19E in Spruce Pine
North end:	SR 107 at the Tennessee state line
Location
Counties:	Cleveland, Rutherford, McDowell, Mitchell
Highway system
North Carolina Highway System Interstate U.S. State Scenic ← NC 225 NC 226A →

North Carolina Highway 226 (NC 226) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Just about running from the Tennessee border to the South Carolina border, NC 226 hooks most of central west NC with some of the bigger cities, such as Kings Mountain, Morganton and Marion. An alternate route of NC 226 known as NC 226A loops to the community of Little Switzerland before rejoining the parent route; it is the only alternate state route remaining in North Carolina.

Route description

NC 226 starts at the Tennessee-North Carolina state border in Mitchell County, where it becomes Tennessee State Route 107. This is near the Appalachian Trail and right at the Iron Mountain Gap.

In Mitchell County, NC 226 crosses under the Blue Ridge Parkway (milepost 330) and goes over the eastern Continental Divide. Through this section is NC 226A, an alternate route through more rugged mountain terrain.

In Marion, NC 226 overlaps U.S. Route 221. From there, NC 226 goes through a various number of small towns. After getting through Dysartsville, NC 226 meets up with U.S. Route 64.

In Rutherford County, NC 226 cuts through the South Mountains.

The road then finds its way through some foothill towns in Cleveland County, the most major being Polkville. This is where NC 10 and NC 182 have termini with NC 226. After a nearly twenty-mile drive, NC 226 enters the county seat, Shelby. It overlaps US 74 for nearly four miles before branching off near NC 18.

After leaving US 74, NC 226 slowly makes its way through southern Cleveland County, ending at U.S. Route 29, approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) short of the South Carolina border. This is at the tiny border town of Grover

History

Established in 1961 as a renumbering of NC 26. In 1966, NC 226 was removed from downtown Shelby, rerouted from Earl Street onto US 74 Bypass to Polkville Road. In 1994, NC 226 was moved with US 221 onto a new bypass west of Marion, leaving US 221 Business. In 2000, NC 226 was realigned onto new road west of downtown Spruce Pine.

North Carolina Highway 26

NC Highway 26
Location:	Grover–TN State Line
Length:	101.4 mi (163.2 km)
Existed:	1921–1961

The first NC 26 was established as an original state highway in 1921. It traversed from the South Carolina stat line, near Pineville, north along Park Road into downtown Charlotte. Leaving the downtown area via Statesville Avenue, it continued north through Huntersville, Davidson, Mooresville, Statesville, Elkin, Sparta, and finally Twin Oaks, before finally reaching the Virginia state line. In both border states, the highway continued with the number 26.

In 1927, US 21 was assigned to all of NC 26, except for a few miles south of Pineville. In 1933, US 521 was assigned to the remaining piece of NC 26. In 1934, the first NC 26 was decommissioned, completely replaced by both US 21 and US 521.

The second NC 26 was quickly reestablished in late 1934, replacing NC 19 from US 221 in Woodlawn, north through Little Switzerland, Spruce Pine, Bakersville, Red Hill, and then finally west to US 19W/US 23 in Sioux. In 1940, NC 26 was rerouted north from Red Hill to the Tennessee state line. Also in 1940, NC 26 was extended south, overlapping with US 221 to Marion; it then replaced NC 190 through Polkville and Shelby, ending at US 29 in Grover. Around 1947, NC 26 was moved onto new road bypassing Little Switzerland; the old route became NC 26A. In 1956, NC 26 was moved onto new road near Dysartville, removing a concurrency with US 64 and establishing one of the earliest grade-separated intersections in the state. In 1961, NC 26 was renumbered to NC 226, because of the coming establishment of Interstate 26.

Junction list

NC 226 in downtown Grover

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Cleveland	Grover	0.0	0.0	US 29 (M H Camp Highway) – Blacksburg, Kings Mountain	South Carolina state line is 300 feet (91 m) south of intersection
	Patterson Springs	6.2	10.0	NC 180 south (Post Road) – Gaffney	South end of NC 180 overlap
	​	7.7	12.4	NC 180 north (Post Road) – Morganton	North end of NC 180 overlap
	Shelby	10.0	16.1	US 74 east (Dixon Boulevard) – Kings Mountain, Charlotte	East end of US 74 overlap
		10.3	16.6	NC 150 (Dekalb Street)
		10.5	16.9	NC 18 (Lafayette Street) – Shelby, Gaffney
		12.0	19.3	US 74 Bus. east (Warren Street)
		12.7	20.4	US 74 west (Dixon Boulevard) – Forest City, Columbus	West end of US 74 overlap
	​	17.6	28.3	Double Shoals Road
	Polkville	23.2	37.3	NC 182 east (Stagecoach Trail) – Lawndale
		23.5	37.8	NC 10 east (Casar Road) – Casar	To South Mountains State Park
Rutherford	​	33.6	54.1	Bostic Sunshine Highway – Bostic
McDowell	​	40.9	65.8	US 64 – Rutherfordton, Morganton
	Marion	51.5	82.9	I‑40 – Asheville, Morganton
		52.5	84.5	US 221 south / US 221 Bus. north (Rutherford Road) – Rutherfordton	South end of US 221 overlap
		55.0	88.5	Henderson Street – Downtown Marion
		55.7	89.6	Tate Street
		57.7	92.9	US 70 – Old Fort, Asheville	To Mount Mitchell State Park
		58.3	93.8	US 221 Bus. south (Main Street)	To Lake James State Park
	​	60.3	97.0	Toms Creek Road
	Woodlawn	64.6	104.0	US 221 north – Linville	North end of US 221 overlap
	​	65.8	105.9	NC 226A north
	​	69.8	112.3	NC 226A south – Little Switzerland
Mitchell	​	69.9	112.5	Blue Ridge Parkway
	Spruce Pine	74.5	119.9	US 19E north – Newland, Cranberry	North end of US 19E overlap
		75.3	121.2	US 19E south – Estatoe, Burnsville	South end of US 19E overlap
	​	78.1	125.7	Penland Road – Penland
	​	81.8	131.6	NC 226A north (Mine Creek Road)
	Bakersville	84.7	136.3	NC 261 north – Roan Mountain
	Loafers Glory	87.2	140.3	NC 226A south – Micaville
	Red Hill	90.2	145.2	NC 197 south – Burnsville	South end of NC 197 overlap
		90.4	145.5	NC 197 north – Erwin	North end of NC 197 overlap
	State line	101.0	162.5	SR 107 west – Johnson City
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• NC 226 Termini