End of US highway 601

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: Mark Clifton; Greg Coniglio; David Dawson; Jeff Morrison; Steven Nelson; Adam Prince

US 601 was one of the original 1926 routes, beginning at the junction with its parent route (US 1) a few miles south of Cheraw SC. The photo below was taken from southbound US 1:

Nelson, 2006

At the time, US 52 did not exist in this part of the country. Instead, it was US 601 that branched off to the left from US 1 ahead. From here, US 601 went only as far as Florence SC (you can view photos from there on this page). Note that neither Florence nor Cheraw is served by US 601 today (an explanation for that can be found in the text that follows).

In 1933 the north end of US 601 was extended up to Mount Airy NC, essentially via what is today designated US 52. US 601 used to come into town on Rockford Street, but at some point it may have crossed over to Pine Street before ending at US 52... at least that's what the photo below seems to suggest:

Coniglio

It appears that assembly would've been on eastbound Pine at Main. Main used to be US 52, but now it's a business loop off the US 52 bypass, which skirts around the west side of town (Main is also one-way southbound now). Here's a view from southbound Main:

Morrison, Aug. 2005

US 601 used to begin to the right on Pine (Jeff reports that Pine is the preferred connector to Rockford, via Dixie Street, one block to the right). But then the US 601 designation was truncated to the new US 52, as evidenced by the shot below:

Clifton

That assembly has since been replaced:

Morrison, Aug. 2005

Below we're looking at the north beginning of US 601 as seen from southbound US 52:

Morrison, Aug. 2005

In 1934, the US routes in this part of North Carolina began to look more like what we see today: the US 52 designation was assigned to the Mt. Airy/Winston-Salem/Salisbury corridor. The US 601 designation was changed to run from Mt. Airy to Salisbury, via Yadkinville and Mocksville. So already by this time, US 601 didn't run anywhere close to its original assignment. In Salisbury, US 601 came into town co-signed with US 70 on Innes Street. It ended at Main Street, where it junctioned US 52. The shot below is looking northeast on Main:

Google Maps Street View, 2008

US 52 came in from the right on Innes and continued ahead. US 70 came towards the camera and continued to the left on Innes, and that was also the south beginning of US 601.

In 1951, US 601 was extended south from Salisbury along its modern route. Where it reached US 321 south of Pineland SC, the two highways were co-signed down to a common terminus at US 17 in Hardeeville (you can view photos from there on this page).

In 1996 the south end of US 601 was truncated to its modern terminus: at its junction with US 321 about three miles south of Pineland SC. The photo below shows the southern end of US 601 at US 321:

Dawson, Dec. 2001

Note the stop sign and the backside of the assembly - those are both visible at far right in the photo below:

Dawson, Dec. 2001

That's looking south on US 321; as you can see, US 601 comes in at a rather extreme angle. Below we're heading north on US 321, approaching the south beginning of US 601:

Dawson, Dec. 2001

The front side of the assembly I pointed out above is visible in the distance; it's shown more closely in the photo below:

Dawson, Dec. 2001

That's a nice shot showing where US 601 splits off from US 321, as well as the confirming signs for each route. The assembly itself is shown more clearly in the photo below:

Prince, Aug. 2001