End of historic US highway 401 [II]

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info below is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Photo credits: David Dawson

There was a "US 401" among the original 1926 routes: it was entirely in Virginia, running between South Hill and South Boston, along what is now US 58. That designation was decommissioned in 1932; you can read about its endpoints on this page.

US 401 [II] lasted for two years at the most - it shows up on maps from 1933 and 1934, but that's it. The north end was in Raleigh NC. I'm told it came in on Dawson Street, ending at Edenton Street (which presumably carried US 70):

Google Maps Street View, 2008

The south end of US 401 [II] was in Walterboro SC, where the south end of US 15 is today:

Dawson, Dec. 2001

On Jefferies Avenue at Wichman Street is the end of US 15 (historic end of US 401), and it's southbound US 17A that continues ahead on Jefferies. Northbound US 17A is left on Wichman. Below is the perspective from westbound Wichman (southbound US 17A):

Dawson, Dec. 2001

The south beginning of US 15 is to the right, as was the south beginning of US 401. One more perspective, below:

Dawson, Dec. 2001

Here we're looking north on Jefferies. Northbound Alt US 17 takes a right here on Wichman, while straight ahead is the south beginning of US 15. But from 1933-1934, that was the south beginning of US 401 [II].

In 1957, the US 401 designation was resurrected for the third time, and the highway still exists today. Much of it runs along what used to be US 401 [II]. You can read about the endpoints of US 401 [III] here.