Capital Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in

Wake County, North Carolina Wake County, officially the County of Wake, is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's List of coun ...

. At various points along the route, it carries

NC 50 North Carolina Highway 50 (NC 50) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It goes from Topsail Beach in the south to Creedmoor in the north, connecting the cities of Warsaw, Newton Grove, Benson, and Raleigh ...

, U.S. Highway 70 (US 70),

U.S. Route 401 U.S. Route 401 (US 401) is a north–south United States highway, a spur of U.S. Route 1, that travels along the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, Fall Line from Sumter, South Carolina, Sumter, South Carolina to Interstate 85 in North ...

, and US 1. It links Downtown Raleigh with its northeastern suburbs. It is one of the busiest corridors in Raleigh, with 63 thousand average daily vehicles near its intersection with Interstate 440 (I-440).

Route description

Its southern terminus is at the northern edge of Downtown

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

, south of which the roadways continue as a pair of matched one-way streets, Dawson Street (southbound) and McDowell Street (northbound). At this point the road carries

US 401 U.S. Route 401 (US 401) is a north–south United States highway, a spur of U.S. Route 1, that travels along the Fall Line from Sumter, South Carolina to Interstate 85 near Wise, North Carolina. Route description Starting in Su ...

US 70 U.S. Route 70 or U.S. Highway 70 (US 70) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. It is a major east–west highway of the Southeastern, Southern and Southwestern United States. ...

and

. It begins as an urban expressway, with limited driveways and grade-separated interchanges through an industrial area north of Downtown, carrying two through lanes in each direction. Major interchanges in this area include, from south to north, Peace Street,

Wade Avenue Wade Avenue is an arterial in The Triangle region of North Carolina that links Interstate 40, Interstate 440, and downtown Raleigh. The roadway is internally designated as Secondary Road 1728 (SR 1728) from I-40 to Glenwood Avenue, howev ...

(where US 70 West and NC 50 North leave Capital Boulevard), Fairview Road, Wake Forest Road, Atlantic Avenue, and Yonkers Road. At an interchange with I-440, it widens to four through lanes in each direction while also transitioning to a divided

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district. In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...

-grade roadway with signalized at-grade intersections and frequent driveways. At the I-440 interchange,

US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort ...

joins going northbound. The section between I-440 and I-540 is heavily commercial, saturated with shopping centers, anchored by

Triangle Town Center Triangle Town Center is a shopping mall in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is located in North Raleigh off U.S. Highway 1 (Capital Boulevard) and Interstate 540 (North Carolina), Interstate 540. The mall features the traditional retailers Belk, Di ...

, a large

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

near the interchange with I-540. There is one interchange about half-way between I-440 and I-540, where US 401 splits on to Louisburg Road, leaving only US 1 on Capital Boulevard. North of I-540, the route becomes an

arterial An artery () is a blood vessel in humans and most other animals that takes oxygenated blood away from the heart in the systemic circulation to one or more parts of the body. Exceptions that carry deoxygenated blood are the pulmonary arteries in ...

divided highway, with two lanes in each direction and a mixture of signalized intersections and grade-separated interchanges as it bypasses to the east of the Wakefield Plantation development of North Raleigh and to the west of the town of Wake Forest. Major intersections and interchanges in this section include an intersection with Falls of Neuse Road/South Main Street (US 1A) just south of Wake Forest, and two numbered interchanges with NC 98 and NC 98 Business (Exits 124 and 125 respectively). Capital Boulevard ends at the Wake County line just to the north of Purnell Road, with the US 1 designation continuing on into Youngsville, Franklin County.

History

Capital Boulevard was originally named Downtown Boulevard as far north as its intersection with Wake Forest Road. North of Wake Forest Road, it was known as North Boulevard.

Major intersections

Landmarks

William Peace University William Peace University is a private college in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, it offers undergraduate degrees in more than 30 majors and its School of Professional Studies (SPS) offers accelera ...

Falls Lake Falls Lake is a 12,410 acre (50 km2) reservoir located in Durham, Wake, and Granville counties in North Carolina, United States. It extends up the Neuse River to its source at the confluence of the Eno, Little, and Flat rivers, and ...

and

Falls Lake State Recreation Area Falls Lake State Recreation Area is a North Carolina state park in Durham and Wake counties, North Carolina in the United States. Near Wake Forest, North Carolina, it covers along the shores of Falls Lake. History Prior to 1978, flooding o ...

References

{{reflist Transportation in Wake County, North Carolina Transportation in Raleigh, North Carolina U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 70