End of US highway 264
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Approx. time period
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East Terminus
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West Terminus
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1932-1951
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Englehard, NC
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Zebulon, NC (old)
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1951-1996
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(near Nags Head, NC)
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Zebulon, NC (new)
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1996-2002
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(near Nags Head, NC)
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Raleigh, NC (exit 13)
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2002-2005
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Manns Harbor, NC
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Raleigh, NC (exit 13)
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| 2005-present |
Manns Harbor, NC |
Raleigh, NC (exit 14) |
(about 77 k)
Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical
road atlases, much of the info on this page is based on the research of Robert
Droz; click here to view
his site. Photo credits: Chris
Curley; Jeff
Morrison; Steven
Nelson; Alex Nitzman;
Adam Prince;
Mike Roberson
US 264 was commissioned in 1932; at the time its east end was at Englehard
NC, where there was a ferry that went across Pamlico Sound to the town of Hatteras
(near the cape of the same name, with the tallest lighthouse in the US). According
to a 1936 NCDoT map of Hyde County, the endpoint was here...
Roberson, Apr. 2008
...where today US 264 makes a bend to the north. At the time, the west end
of US 264 was at its junction with US 64 in Zebulon NC:
Nelson,
2006
That's looking west on Gannon Avenue. The black car is heading south on Shepard
School Road/Poplar Street. He's on what was originally westbound US 64, and
he would've continued by turning ahead on Gannon. So US 264 ended here at its
junction with US 64. Later on, both US 64 and US 264 were rerouted onto the
current freeways, so for several years the west end of US 264 was at the freeway
junction just northeast of here. In fact, heading west on US 264 today, signage
still makes it look like US 264 ends:
Google
Maps Street View, 2008
US 264 actually did end here until 1996, but then it was extended further west
with US 64 into Raleigh. The photos below were taken from westbound US 64/US
264, at their old junction with I-440 (interchange 13):
Nitzman, 2001
US 264 ended here, but US 64 joined with I-440 and continued west by skirting
the south side of Raleigh. Just ahead, there was an "End" sign, shown below:
Nitzman, 2001
If one proceeds straight ahead, they find themselves heading towards downtown
on New Bern Avenue. Jeff reports that "End" assembly was still there
in August 2005, but a month prior to that a new bypass opened east of Raleigh
- US 64 and 264 are now routed onto that (and this is now Business 64). The
photo below is looking north on westbound I-440, at the new exit 14:
Google
Maps Street View, 2008
Exit there to reach the new west beginning of US 264. The photo below shows
the "End" sign posted on westbound US 64/264:
Curley, 2005
Westbound US 64 still joins with I-440 around Raleigh. The sign visible in
the distance (shown close-up in the photo below) pretty much spells all that
out:
Nitzman,
Jan. 2008
That's the actual west end of US 264.
In 1951 the US 264 designation was extended further east and north along the
Sound shoreline. It joined with US 64 near Manns Harbor and crossed Croatan
Sound to its terminus at a place known as Whalebone
Junction - on the Outer Banks of NC, a little south of Nags Head. You can
view photos from there on this
page. In 2002, the US 264 designation was truncated to its junction with
US 64 outside Manns Harbor. The photo below was taken approaching that junction:
Roberson,
Apr. 2008
US 264 ends at the stopsign in the distance; I believe there's an "End
264" assembly there. The shot below is looking east on US 64:
Roberson,
Apr. 2008
US 264 once continued ahead, but now it begins to the right. Below we're looking
the opposite direction:
Roberson,
Apr. 2008
If you take that left turn, the first westbound confirming assembly looks like
this:
Roberson,
Apr. 2008
Page created 11 November 1999; last updated 11 December 2008.
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