U.S. Route 301 - History

History

U.S. Route 217 was one of the original U.S. Highways designated in 1926, connecting US 17 at Pee Dee, South Carolina (east of Florence) with US 17-1 at Wilson, North Carolina. US 301 was established in 1932 as a replacement of the piece of US 17-1 north of Wilson and the whole of US 217. Thus US 301 initially ran from US 17 (now US 76) at Pee Dee northeast through Dillon, South Carolina, Pembroke, North Carolina, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Dunn, North Carolina, Smithfield, North Carolina, Wilson, North Carolina, Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and Emporia, Virginia, ending at U.S. Route 1 in Petersburg, Virginia. This entire route is now paralleled by Interstate 95.

In 1935, US 301 was extended southwest to U.S. Route 15 at Summerton, South Carolina. This extension took it west on U.S. Route 76 (formerly U.S. Route 17) to Florence, South Carolina and south on U.S. Route 52 (also formerly US 17) to Effingham, South Carolina. There it split to the southwest, running along what had been S.C. Highway 4 via Manning, South Carolina to Summerton. This again runs parallel to Interstate 95.

The next extension was to the north in late 1940, coinciding with the opening of the Potomac River Bridge. US 301 was extended north along U.S. Route 1 from Petersburg, Virginia to Richmond, Virginia, then north on Route 2 to Bowling Green, Virginia, and northeast on Route 207 to the bridge. In Maryland it continued along the new alignment off the bridge to Newburg, Maryland, and then replaced Maryland Route 3 all the way to U.S. Route 1 in Baltimore, Maryland.

In the late 1940s, US 301 was extended again, south all the way to Tampa, Florida. In South Carolina it ran along U.S. Route 15 southwest to Santee, South Carolina and replaced S.C. Highway 4 west to Orangeburg, South Carolina. From Orangeburg, US 301 ran southwest with U.S. Route 601 to Bamberg, South Carolina, replaced S.C. Highway 33 to Ulmer, South Carolina, replaced S.C. Highway 508 to Allendale, South Carolina, and replaced S.C. Highway 73 to the Georgia state line. In Georgia, US 301 was marked along State Route 73 to Glennville, Georgia, State Route 23 to Folkston, Georgia, and State Route 4 to the border with Florida, numbers that it still has today. In Florida it ran along State Road 15 to Callahan, Florida, State Road 200 to Ocala, Florida, State Road 25/State Road 500 to Belleview, Florida, State Road 35 to Dade City, Florida, State Road 39 to Zephyrhills, Florida, and State Road 41 to Tampa, Florida. As with Georgia, these State Road numbers still exist.

The final extension to the south was made in the early 1950s. US 301 was realigned to turn east on U.S. Route 92/State Road 600 in northern Tampa and south on State Road 43; SR 43 was later extended north to meet State Road 41 at Thonotosassa, Florida. This was done at the same time as U.S. Route 541 was eliminated and U.S. Route 41 was moved onto the former US 541 south of Tampa; US 301 ran along what had been US 41. This extension took US 301 south to Palmetto, Florida along SR 43/former US 41, south on State Road 45/US 41 over the Manatee River into Bradenton, Florida (replaced 1957 by a new bridge to the east on State Road 55), and south on State Road 683 to end at SR 45/US 41 in Sarasota, Florida.

In 1960, US 301 was extended to its greatest extent, Sarasota, Florida to Farnhurst, Delaware. The part from near Bowie, Maryland north to Baltimore, Maryland reverted to Maryland Route 3, and US 301 was extended east along U.S. Route 50 from near Bowie over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Queenstown, Maryland. There it split to the northeast, replacing Maryland Route 71 to the Delaware state line. In Delaware, it continued concurrent with Delaware Route 71 to Middletown, Delaware. There it split into a one-way pair on two two-way roads. US 301 northbound turned east at Middletown along Delaware Route 299, then running north on U.S. Route 13 to its end at Farnhurst, Delaware at Interstate 295 - the Delaware Memorial Bridge approach. Southbound US 301 began at the same place, but only used US 13 to the DE 71 junction near Red Lion, Delaware. From there it followed DE 71 all the way to Maryland, rejoining northbound at Middletown. In the early 1970s, the northbound alignment was modified, continuing north on Middletown with DE 71 across the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal on the Summit Bridge. After crossing the canal it continued north on Delaware Route 896 to Glasgow, Delaware, where it turned east with U.S. Route 40 to its merge with US 13 at State Road, Delaware. In the mid-1980s, both directions were moved to run east from Mount Pleasant, Delaware to U.S. Route 13. Then in 1992, AASHTO approved relocating both directions to the path northbound had followed, joining US 40 at Glasgow. Signage currently now indicates that US 301 ends there, but on November 14, 2006, the Delaware Dept. of Transportation (DelDOT) announced that a new four-lane US 301 bypass will be built. The bypass, which had been proposed since the 1950s, would go west of Middletown, alleviating traffic conditions in the small town, and then travel in a northeasterly direction, intersecting the current Delaware Route 896 near Boyds Corner and then terminate at Delaware Route 1 near the highway's Biddles Corner toll plaza. A spur route, also following the old 1960s highway route, will connect US 301 with the four-lane Summit Bridge just south of Glasgow. When built, the road, like Delaware Route 1 and I-95, will charge a toll to cover the costs of building the new bypass, which is heavily used by trucks between Philadelphia and the Washington, D.C. metro areas.