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North Carolina Highway 8
North Carolina Highway 8
	NC 8 highlighted in red
Route information
	Maintained by NCDOT
Length	94.2 mi (151.6 km)
Existed	1930–present
Major junctions
South end	US 52 in New London
	I-85 in Lexington; I-85 BL / US 29 / US 64 / US 70 in Lexington; I-285 / US 52 in Welcome; I-40 in Winston-Salem; US 158 / US 421 / NC 150 in Winston-Salem; US 311 in Winston-Salem;
North end	SR 8 at the Virginia state line
Location
Country	United States
State	North Carolina
Counties	Stanly, Rowan, Davidson, Forsyth, Stokes
Highway system
	North Carolina Highway System; Interstate; US; State; Scenic;

North Carolina Highway 8 (NC 8) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The route connects the cities of Lexington and Winston-Salem to various recreational and natural sites including Uwharrie National Forest, High Rock Lake and Hanging Rock State Park.

Route description

NC 8 begins with NC 740 at the intersection with US 52 and Gold Street, in New London. After a short concurrency with NC 740, it goes northeast to connect with NC 49, then travels briefly on divided four-lane through Rowan County and over the Yadkin River. After briefly serving as the northern perimeter for the Uwharrie National Forest, it splits with NC 49 and goes north to Southmont. Continuing north, it enters the Lexington city limits near I-85. Turning on Talbert Boulevard, it bypasses south of downtown Lexington, then continues north along Raleigh Road and the one-way streets of Fifth and Sixth streets. On the north side of Lexington, it connects with I-85 Business/US 29/US 64/US 70 before pressing on along Winston Road to Welcome, where it begins its longest concurrency with US 52.

With US 52, it bypasses east of Welcome and west of Midway before entering Winston-Salem, where the freeway becomes known as the North-South Expressway. With a brief concurrency with US 311, it eventually splits from US 52 at Germanton Road, where it continues along north as a two-lane rural highway. After joining with NC 65, it crosses into Stokes County and enters Germanton. 1-mile (1.6 km) later, it splits north from NC 65 to meet-up with NC 89 and traverse through Danbury. Ending its last concurrency just north of Hanging Rock State Park, it continues north crossing NC 704 before ending at the Virginia state line. Continuing into Virginia, it becomes State Route 8, towards Stuart, Virginia.

History

NC 8 was established in 1930 as a new primary routing from Lexington, 5 miles (8.0 km) south to the Junior Order United American Mechanics (JOUAM) children's home, located near High Rock Lake.^[2] In 1936, it was extended further south to Abbot Creek, passing through Southmont. In 1939, NC 8 was extended southeast on new primary routing, crossing Abbot Creek, to NC 62.^[3]

In late 1940, NC 8 was extended north, in concurrency with US 52 to Winston-Salem, then replaced NC 109 in Forsyth and Stokes Counties to the Virginia state line, where it continued on as already existing SR 8. Between 1945 and 1949, NC 8 was rerouted north of Winston-Salem, from Indiana Avenue, Cherry Street and part of Germanton Road, and onto Patterson Avenue.^[4]

In 1953, NC 8 was extended southwest, with a short concurrency with NC 49 and replacing NC 6, to New London. In 1954, NC 8 was placed on one-way streets in downtown Winston-Salem, using 4th Street (southbound) and 5th Street (northbound). In 1960, NC 8 was moved from Main Street to Old Salem Road, in the Salem College area. In 1962, NC 8 was adjusted downtown Winston-Salem: northbound using Main Street–Fifth Street–Liberty Street, and southbound using Liberty Street–First Street. In 1967, NC 8 northbound was rerouted on a short concurrency with US 158/US 421 then north along a completed section of the North-South Freeway; NC 8 southbound remained unchanged until 1973, when the rest of the North-South Expressway was completed, eliminating its routing through downtown Winston-Salem.^[5]^[6] In 1972, NC 8 was adjusted from Third Street to Sixth Street in Lexington.^[7] In 1981, NC 8 was extended to Gold Street, then share short concurrency with NC 740 to its current southern terminus with US 52.^[8] In 1982, US 52/NC 8 was placed on new freeway west of Midway.^[9] Between 1991 and 1993, US 52/NC 8 was placed on new freeway bypassing east of Welcome. In 2002, NC 8 was rerouted in Lexington, from Main Street to continue along Raleigh Road to Talbert Boulevard then back to Cotton Grove Road.^[10]

Major intersections

County	Location	mi^[1]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Stanly	New London	0.0	0.0		US 52 / NC 740 north – Albemarle, Salisbury	Southern terminus; North end of NC 740 overlap
	New London	0.2	0.32		NC 740 south – Badin	South end of NC 740 overlap; to Morrow Mountain State Park
		4.0	6.4		NC 49 south – Concord	South end of NC 49 overlap
Rowan	No major junctions
Yadkin River		5.4	8.7	Senator Stan Bigham Bridge^[11]
Davidson		7.8	12.6		NC 49 north – Asheboro	North end of NC 49 overlap
		30.3	48.8		NC 47 (Junior Order Home Road) – Denton, Linwood
	Lexington	31.7	51.0		I-85 – Greensboro, Charlotte	Partial cloverleaf interchange; exit 91
	Lexington	37.0	59.5		I-85 BL / US 29 / US 64 / US 70 – High Point, Asheboro, Mocksville, Salisbury
	Welcome	39.7	63.9	92	I-285 south / US 52 south – Salisbury	South end of I-285/US 52 overlap
	Welcome	45.0	72.4	97	Old U.S. Hwy 52 – Midway
	Midway	47.2	76.0	100	Hickory Tree Road
Forsyth	Winston-Salem	50.3	81.0	103	South Main Street
		52.7	84.8	105	Clemmonsville Road
		53.8	86.6	107 A-B	A: I-40 east / I-285 end – Greensboro, High Point B: I-40 west – Statesville	North end of I-285 overlap Signed as exits 107A (east) and 107B (west)
		54.5	87.7	108A	Sprague Street/Waughtown Street	To University of North Carolina School of the Arts
				108B	Research Parkway	DDI^[12]
		55.3	89.0	108B	Vargrave Street	Permanently closed as of January 6, 2014^[12]
		55.8	89.8	108C	Stadium Drive – Old Salem	To Winston-Salem State University
		56.1	90.3	109 A-B	A: US 158 east / US 421 east / NC 150 south – Kernersville B: US 158 west / US 421 west / NC 150 north – Downtown	Signed as exits 109A (east) and 109B (west)
		56.5	90.9	110A	3rd 4th 5th Streets – Downtown	Permanently closed as of February 18, 2013^[13]^[14]
		56.9	91.6	110B	US 311 north (ML King Jr Drive)
		57.1	91.9	110C	Liberty Street
		57.4	92.4	110D	Northwest Boulevard	Southbound exit only
		58.2	93.7	111A	25th Street/28th Street
		58.4	94.0	111B	Liberty Street – Smith Reynolds Airport	Was northbound exit only; permanently closed
		59.4	95.6	112	Akron Drive – Smith Reynolds Airport	To Coliseum and BB&T Field
		60.2	96.9	113	Patterson Avenue
		61.8	99.5	114	US 52 north – Mount Airy	North end of US 52 overlap
		63.9	102.8		NC 66 (Old Hollow Road) – Walkertown, Rural Hall
		64.2– 64.4	103.3– 103.6		NC 74 (Winston-Salem Northern Beltway)	Double roundabout interchange; exit 43, opened to traffic on November 7, 2022^[15]^[16]
		68.6	110.4		NC 65 west (Rural Hall-Germanton Road) – Rural Hall	West end of NC 65 overlap
Stokes	Germanton	69.6	112.0		NC 65 east – Walnut Cove	East end of NC 65 overlap
	Meadows	79.2	127.5		NC 89 east – Walnut Cove	East end of NC 89 overlap
	Meadows	85.9	138.2		NC 89 west – Mount Airy	West end of NC 89 overlap
	Coleville	94.3	151.8		NC 704 (Wesley D. Webster Highway) – Sandy Ridge, Westfield
	Campbell	94.6	152.2		SR 8 north – Stuart	Northern terminus; Virginia state line
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Closed/former Concurrency terminus Incomplete access

References

^ ^a ^b "North Carolina Highway 8" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
^ State Highway System of North Carolina (PDF) (Map). Cartography by NCDOT. North Carolina Department of Transportation. 1930. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
^ North Carolina Primary Highway System (PDF) (Map). Cartography by NCDOT. North Carolina Department of Transportation. 1940. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
^ North Carolina Official Highway Map (PDF) (Map). Cartography by NCDOT. North Carolina Department of Transportation. 1951. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
^ "Route Change (1967-09-29)" (PDF). North Carolina Department of Transportation. September 29, 1967. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
^ "Route Change (1973-12-01)" (PDF). North Carolina Department of Transportation. December 1, 1973. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
^ "Route Change (1972-06-29)" (PDF). North Carolina Department of Transportation. June 29, 1972. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
^ "Route Change (1981-06-01)" (PDF). North Carolina Department of Transportation. June 1, 1981. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
^ "Route Change (1982-01-01)" (PDF). North Carolina Department of Transportation. January 1, 1982. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
^ "Route Change (2002-04-15)" (PDF). North Carolina Department of Transportation. April 15, 2002. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
^ "This Week at NCDOT: Litter Sweep, Traffic Conference and More". Bladen Online. April 26, 2024. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "NCDOT News Release: Construction of Salem Creek Connector Ramps up in Winston-Salem". NCDOT. December 27, 2013. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
^ "NCDOT News Release: NCDOT to Close U.S. 52; Third, Fourth, Fifth Street Ramps in Winston-Salem Starting Sunday Night". NCDOT. June 7, 2012. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
^ "Ramp from Fifth Street to US 52 north closes Monday". WXII-TV. Winston-Salem, NC. February 18, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
^ "NCDOT: Winston-Salem Northern Beltway". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
^ Young, Wesley (November 7, 2022). "A new section of the Winston-Salem Northern Beltway has opened". Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved November 12, 2022.