 U.S. Route 311 | |||||||
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 US 311 highlighted in red; former segment from 1973–2019 highlighted in blue | |||||||
| Route information | |||||||
| Length | 62 mi[1] (100 km) | ||||||
| Existed | 1927–present | ||||||
| Major junctions | |||||||
| South end |   US 52 /NC 8 inWinston-Salem, NC | ||||||
| Major intersections | |||||||
| North end |   US 58 /SR 1260 inDanville, VA | ||||||
| Location | |||||||
| Country | United States | ||||||
| States | North Carolina,Virginia | ||||||
| Counties | NC:Forsyth,Stokes,Rockingham VA:Pittsylvania | ||||||
| Highway system | |||||||
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U.S. Route 311 (US 311) is aUnited States Numbered Highway that runs for 62 miles (100 km) fromWinston-Salem, North Carolina toDanville, Virginia. It connects the cities of Winston-Salem,Madison, andEden. The route runs northeast from Winston-Salem to Danville. By the numbering convention, it is an auxiliary route ofUS 11, however except for a brief period shortly after the route was established, it has not connected to its parent route.
US 311 begins in Winston-Salem, atUS 52/NC 8 (exit 110B) in the downtown area and proceeds northeast of the city. Starting in the vicinity of Madison, US 311 follows a number of different North Carolina state highways in short succession along with another major US Highway,US 220 before crossing the Virginia line. In Virginia, the route terminates shortly after crossing the border at the interchange withUS 58 (Danville Expressway) in Danville.
In May 2018, North Carolina applied for, and received, permission from theAmerican Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to remove US 311 from the southernmost 37 miles (60 km) of the route, being mostly redundant toInterstate 74 (I-74), bringing it to its current routing from Winston-Salem to Danville. However, some US 311 signage remains on its former southernmost segment nearRandleman.
_at_U.S._Route_58_Business_(Martinsville_Highway)_in_Callahans_Hills%2c_Pittsylvania_County%2c_Virginia.jpg)
US 311 begins at exit 110B from theUS 52/NC 8 freeway inWinston-Salem, North Carolina, and leads into the downtown area. It follows North Martin Luther King Jr Drive for a short time before continuing northeast along New Walkertown Road. It travels northeast and intersectsNC 66 at the edge ofWalkertown, which motorists can use to connect to nearby shopping centers situated along US 158 (Reidsville Road). Shortly after, US 311 then turns to follow Harley Drive and turns again to follow Main Street through town. North of Walkertown, the road takes the local name of Walnut Cove Road. At the southern edge of the town ofWalnut Cove,NC 65 joins for a short 0.7-mile (1.1 km) concurrency. At the northern boundary of Walnut Cove, NC 89 has its terminus at US 311, and the highway turns northeast.NC 775 terminates at US 311 nearPine Hall and entering the town ofMadison, US 311 takes an easterly route as Academy Street, meeting up withNC 704 along the way. East ofMadison, it leaves NC 704 and joins with theFuture I-73/US 220 by-pass, both routes traveling due north in a short concurrency toMayodan. In Mayodan, US 311 then leaves the US 220 freeway, and proceeds easterly again, alongNC 135 towardsEden. Three other NC highways join with US 311 in Eden in short succession:NC 770,NC 87 andNC 14, then the four joined routes cross theDan River along Van Buren Street in Eden. NC 14/NC 87 continues north on Van Buren, while US 311 exits Van Buren Street on a grade-separated interchange onto Meadow Road near the Eden Mall, heading northeast into a rural area before crossing intoVirginia.
After the passing through the small communities ofBerry Hill andBuford, it meets its northern terminus at an interchange withUS 58 (Danville Expressway) inDanville.
TheJ.J. Webster Highway is the official North Carolina name of US 311/NC 135 fromMayodan toEden.[2]
Established as an original U.S. Highway in 1927, it originally traversed fromWest End, throughAsheboro,High Point,Winston-Salem,Madison, andStoneville, before enteringVirginia and continuing toRoanoke, where it reached its parent route,US 11. The alignment followed part of what wasNC 70 and all ofNC 77, both of which were decommissioned in 1934.
In 1933, US 311 was extended south throughPinehurst,Aberdeen, andLaurinburg, toRowland, overlappingNC 241. A year later,US 220 was established and replaced US 311 south ofAsheboro and north ofMadison, severing the connection with its parent route. Sections further south were replaced byNC 2 (today'sNC 211) andUS 501. Later in 1966, US 311 was truncated inRandleman; by 1973, US 311 southern terminus was moved toUS 220 Bypass, inRandleman.[3]
By 1952, US 311 was rerouted west of downtownWinston-Salem, following Waughtown Road, Stadium Drive, Claremont Avenue and 7th Street, to New Walkertown Road. In the mid-1980s, US 311 was moved onto new freeway through southeastForsyth County. Part of the freeway shortly became a stretch ofI-40, eventually running concurrently with the Interstate. In 1996, the route throughWinston-Salem changed again, this time also going north alongUS 52/NC 8 to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive then east onto New Walkertown Road.[4]
In 1997, the first section of the East Belt was opened inHigh Point, rerouting US 311 onto the new freeway to Eastchester Drive then back into downtownHigh Point with concurrency withNC 68. The old alignment along North Main Street became US 311 Business. On November 20, 2004, the second section of the "East Belt" was opened, rerouting US 311 toI-85 Bus./US 29/US 70. On November 22, 2010, the third and final section of the East Belt was completed, linkingI-85; AlsoI-74 was established as a concurrency of US 311 from Cedar Square Road to North Main Street.[5][6]
In September 2003, US 311 was extended north fromMadison toNC 14/NC 87/NC 770 inEden, viaUS 220 andNC 135. The extension was finally signed in August 2011.[3] The route was approved byAmerican Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in November 2012, after an initial request by officials in Eden, to be extended toUS 58 inVirginia; which in January 2013, theNorth Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) signed off on extending the route and replacing parts ofNC 700 andNC 770.[7][8][9] US 311 was signed in the field in Virginia, from Danville south to the state line (replacing secondary State Route 863) in September 2013.
Since 2003, a project called the US 311 Connector has been planned by NCDOT and the city of Winston-Salem. Estimated at $23.5 million (equivalent to $38.3 million in 2024), the 2.8-mile (4.5 km), four-lane,partial controlled-access highway would connect between I-40 (exit 196) and I-40 Business (exit 8) (now US 421, exit 230), linking US 311 with US 158 (Reidsville Road); it also included a landscaped medium with walking/bicycle trails parallel to it. By 2016, the project has ceased appearing in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), though still part of the Winston-Salem 2035 Transportation Plan.[10][11]
In May 2018, AASHTO approved a request by NCDOT to eliminate 37.03 miles (59.59 km) between Randleman and Winston-Salem, moving the southern terminus from I-73/US 220 in Randleman to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Winston-Salem, as all but 7.27 miles (11.70 km) of this section is freeway which already has other primary designations; those non-redundant sections would be reassigned secondary North Carolina routes.[12] In January 2019, NCDOT officially eliminated the section.[13] Despite this, signage for US 311 from along I-74 southeast of High Point to its former southern terminus at I-73/US 220 in Randleman remains as of June 2023.
In November 2024, US 311 was relocated onto the newly constructed Harville–Saunders Parkway, moving its northern terminus to an interchange withUS 58 and the western terminus ofState Route 1260 (SR 1260) inDanville.[14] The former route following Berry Hill Road north of Harville-Saunders Parkway to US 311's previous northern terminus atU.S. Route 58 Business (US 58 Bus.) andSR 872 (Meadowview Drive) was redesignated asU.S. Route 311 Alternate (US 311 Alt.). Although US 311 Alt. was designated as an alternate route, it does not reconnect to US 311 near Danville; instead its northern end is at US 58 Bus.
 North Carolina Highway 897 | |
|---|---|
| Location | Winston-Salem–VA State Line |
| Length | 43.3 mi[15] (69.7 km) |
| Existed | 1921–1925 |
North Carolina Highway 897 (NC 897) was an original state highway that traversed fromNC 60/NC 65, in Winston-Salem, toSR 33 at the Virginia state line. Going north on Liberty Street, from 4th Street, in Winston-Salem, it went at a northeasterly route along Old Walkertown Road and Pine Hall Road toPine Hall. Continuing northeasterly, it connectsMadison,Mayodan,Stoneville andPrice, North Carolina before reaching the Virginia state line. In 1925, it was renumbered as part ofNC 77.[16] Today, all of theForsyth andStokes section of NC 897 have been downgraded to secondary roads; while the Pine Hall to Madison section is part of US 311 and the Madison to Stoneville is part ofUS 220 Business.
| State | County | Location | mi[1][17] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | Forsyth | Winston-Salem | 0.0 | 0.0 | US 52 /NC 8 (John Gold Memorial Expressway) –Lexington,Mount Airy | Southern terminus of US 311 | |
| Walkertown | 5.1 | 8.2 |  NC 74 (Winston-Salem Northern Beltway) | Opened to traffic on December 23, 2020[18] | |||
| 6.7 | 10.8 |  NC 66 (Old Hollow Road) –Stanleyville,Kernersville | |||||
| Stokes | Walnut Cove | 15.4 | 24.8 |   NC 65 west –Germanton | West end of NC 65 overlap | ||
| 16.1 | 25.9 |  NC 65 east –Stokesdale | East end of NC 65 overlap | ||||
| 17.9 | 28.8 |  NC 89 west –Danbury | |||||
| Pine Hall | 23.4 | 37.7 |   NC 772 north –Sandy Ridge | ||||
| Rockingham | Madison | 30.1 | 48.4 |    US 220 Bus. north /NC 704 west (Market Street) | North end of US 220 Business overlap, west end of NC 704 overlap | ||
| 31.4 | 50.5 |  US 220 south /NC 704 east –Greensboro,Wentworth | South end of US 220/US 220 Business overlap, east end of NC 704 overlap | ||||
| Mayodan | 34.4 | 55.4 |  US 220 north /NC 135 west –Stoneville,Mayodan | North end of US 220 overlap, west end of NC 135 overlap | |||
| Eden | 43.6 | 70.2 |  NC 770 west –Stoneville | East end of NC 135 overlap, west end of NC 770 overlap | |||
| 46.2 | 74.4 |  NC 87 south –Reidsville | South end of NC 87 overlap | ||||
| 47.8 | 76.9 |  NC 14 south (Van Buren Road) –Reidsville | South end of NC 14 overlap | ||||
| 50.3 | 81.0 | NC 14 north /NC 87 north /NC 770 east (Van Buren Road) –Martinsville | North end of NC 14/NC 87 overlap, east end of NC 770 overlap | ||||
| 53.3 | 85.8 |  NC 700 east (Fieldcrest Road) –Pelham | |||||
| 57.6 0.0 | 92.7 0.0 | North Carolina–Virginia state line | |||||
| Virginia | Pittsylvania | | 4.4 | 7.1 |    US 311 Alt. north (Berry Hill Road) toUS 58 Bus. –Danville | Southern terminus of US 311 Alt.; former US 311 north since November 2024 | |
| Danville | 6.6 | 10.6 |  US 58 (Danville Expressway) /SR 1260 east (Oak Ridge Farms Road) toUS 29 –Martinsville,Danville,Greensboro,South Boston | Northern terminus of US 311; western terminus of SR 1260; roadway continues as SR 1260 east; interchange on US 58 | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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 U.S. Highway 311 Business | |
|---|---|
| Location | High Point, North Carolina |
| Length | 6.0 mi[19] (9.7 km) |
| Existed | 1997–2009 |
Established in 1997, when mainline US 311 was placed on new freeway east ofHigh Point, it was 2 miles (3.2 km) long following North Main Street from US 311 to Eastchester Drive. In December 2005, US 311 Business was extended south, through the downtown area, toI-85 Bus./US 29/US 70. However, on November 23, 2009, US 311 Business was decommissioned, a couple of years before the completion of the "East Belt."[5][20][21]
 U.S. Highway 311 Alternate | |
|---|---|
| Location | Danville, Virginia |
| Length | 3.2 mi[22] (5.1 km) |
| Existed | 2024–present |
US 311 Alternate (US 311 Alt.) was created in November 2024 when US 311 was relocated onto the newly constructed Harville–Saunders Parkway east toUS 58/SR 1260.[14] The route follows Berry Hill Road for 3.2 miles (5.1 km) along the old alignment of US 311 north of Harville-Saunders Parkway to US 311's previous northern terminus atUS 58 Bus./SR 872 (Meadowview Drive). Although US 311 Alt. was designated as an alternate route, it does not reconnect to US 311 near Danville; instead its northern end is at US 58 Bus.
Media related toU.S. Route 311 at Wikimedia CommonsU.S. Routes related toUS 11 | |||
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