North Carolina Highway 3 (NC 3) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. The road runs from US 601 in southern

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, north through Mooresville to

US 29 U.S. Route 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida to the western suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland in the Southern United States, connecting the Florida Panhandle to the Baltimore-Washington ...

Kannapolis Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. Th ...

. It is numbered after Dale Earnhardt, the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

driver, who was driving the #3 car when he died at the

2001 Daytona 500 The 2001 Daytona 500, the 43rd running of the event, was the first race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series schedule. It was held on February 18, 2001, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, consisting of 200 laps and ...

. This state highway runs from Kannapolis, Earnhardt's birthplace, to downtown Mooresville, where many NASCAR teams are based. A short section of NC 3 is named Dale Earnhardt Boulevard, a name which was given to the road prior to Earnhardt's death.

Route description

NC 3's southern terminus is in Concord, at US 601, where it follows Union Street northwards from a fork in the road just north of where US 601 has an interchange with NC 49. The route continues on to Branchview Drive upon crossing Old Airport Road, bypassing downtown Concord to the east. The name changes again to Concord Lake Road upon crossing over

I-85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, ...

; there is no interchange with I-85, just an overpass. The road enters Kannapolis, where after approximately , it comes to an intersection with Dale Earnhardt Boulevard. Turning left onto Dale Earnhardt Boulevard, it follows that road northeast, shortly reaching an oblique intersection with US 29. The road continues through the downtown area of Kannapolis, crossing Main Street and then NC 3 turns on to Mooresville Road, heading in a generally east-southeast direction. Leaving Kannapolis near the Fisher Town neighborhood, the road crosses the northern tip of the Don T. Howell Reservoir, then curves to the north. At Earnhardt Lake Road, the name changes to Coddle Creek Highway. After crossing several miles of mostly rural area, it passes the headquarters of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. shortly before entering the corporate limits of Mooresville. Within Mooresville, it follows Iredell Avenue before reaching its northern terminus at NC 150.

History

In 1934, NC 3 was signed as a short route on Buck Island traveling from US 158 to the

Currituck Sound Currituck Sound ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

in Currituck County.NCRoads Annex - NC 3
On October 23, 2002, Governor Mike Easley signed into law a bill officially reassigning NC 136 to NC 3's route and vice versa. NC 3 was moved because it was the hometown of the aforementioned Dale Earnhardt who died in the

. Earnhardt drove the #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet and grew up in the Mooresville region. NC 136 now follows the old NC 3 route.

Major intersections

References

External links

* {{commons category-inline
NCRoads.com: N.C. 3
Transportation in Cabarrus County, North Carolina Transportation in Iredell County, North Carolina

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: *003, fictional British 00 Agent *003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) *1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway *''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...

Dale Earnhardt