US 76 traverses three southern North Carolina counties: Columbus, Brunswick, New Hanover. It runs across those counties. US 76 enters North Carolina from South Carolina in Columbus County along a two-lane highway. US 76 heads north until Fair Bluff. US 76 intersects NC 904 and runs a short concurrency in downtown Fair Bluff. From there US 76 heads east towards Chadbourn. NC 242 intersects US 76 at a stop sign inCerro Gordo. US 76 is routed north of Chadbourn, still on a two lane road. After, US 76 merges into US 74/Future I-74 and heads towards Wilmington. US 76 follows US 74/Future I-74 north of Whiteville and Lake Waccamaw. US 76/US 74/I-74 continues as a freeway until NC 11. From there US 76/US 74 is a four-lane divided highway but does not have any more exits in Columbus County. East of Delco US 76/US 74 meet up with NC 87. NC 87 runs a concurrency into Brunswick County. US 76 enters Brunswick County east of Delco along US 74 and NC 87. NC 87 leaves US 74/US 76 in Sandy Creek, North Carolina. US 74/US 76 continues southeast towards Leland from Sandy Creek. US 74/US 76 picks up freeway status in Leland near Lanvale Road NE. US 74/US 76 intersects US 17 and NC 133 in southern Leland and both roads run a concurrency until Wilmington. Just west of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge US 17, NC 133 and US 74 exit off of US 76 and US 421 joins US 76. After crossing the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, US 76 is split into Dawson Street and Wooster Street. The two streets join back together east of Downtown Wilmington and form Oleander Drive. Oleander Drive runs parallel to Wrightsville Avenue and passes Independence Mall. US 76 crosses over US 117 and NC 132 at one of the busiest intersections in Wilmington, with about 70,000 cars crossing the intersection. US 76 continues east towards Wrightsville Beach for four more miles until reaching the Wrightsville Avenue intersection. At the intersection US 76 continues onto Military Cutoff Road. US 76 meets US 74 again at Eastwood Road where US 76 turns right to follow US 74 towards Wrightsville Beach. US 76/US 74 crosses the Intracoastal Waterway before crossing into Wrightsville Beach. US 76 bears right onto Causeway Drive and crosses the Banks Channel. US 76 turns onto Waynick Boulevard and heads south along the Banks Channel. When Waynick Boulevard ends at Lumina Avenue US 76 heads south towards the end of the island. Lumina Avenue turns into Jack Parker Boulevard. US 76 ends at Jack Parker Boulevard.
History
US 76 did not appear in North Carolina until late 1934 into 1935. It replaced NC 202 and US 17 from the South Carolina border to Chadbourn, US 17 and NC 20 to Wilmington and NC 20 to Wrightsville Beach. The original US 76 followed the current alignment of the road from the South Carolina state line to Chadbourne. US 76 then followed NC 214 north of Lake Waccamaw and through Bolton. It then followed the current alignment to Leland. US 76 then used Office Road, Lincoln Road, Old Mill Road, to get to Village Road NE. US 76 then used the closed causeway to cross the Brunswick River. From Belville US 76 used NC 133 routing to cross the Cape Fear and NE Cape Fear River's. US 76 then went down 3rd Street to Market Street and then followed 17th Street to Oleander Drive. US 76 then used Arlie Road to where US 76 currently crosses into Wrightsville Beach. US 76 then turned north on Lumina Avenue to the current end point of US 74. In 1936 US 74/US 76 was given a short bypass around Leland using Village Road. The old part became US 74-A. In 1940, US 76 was removed off the routing along Lumina Avenue and was instead routed south along Waynick Drive to the southern part of the island. Sometime between 1959 and 1962, US 76 was removed off Arlie Drive, and instead, US 76 followed Oleander Drive all the way to Causeway Drive. In 1966, US 76 was moved onto split roads along both 16th and 17th streets in downtown Wilmington. In 1969, US 76 was redirected to use a new bridge to cross the Cape Fear River into Wilmington. US 76 would also now use Dawson and Wooster Streets through downtown Wilmington. In 1975, US 76 and US 74 were placed on a new freeway that bypassed both Leland and Belville; along with that, US 76 was placed on a new freeway that bypassed Chadbourn. Between 1986 and 1987, US 76 was placed on a bypass of Hallsboro and Lake Waccamaw. Around 1992, US 76 was routed to bypass Bolton leaving behind NC 214. In 2003, US 76 was moved onto Military Cutoff Road instead of being on Wrightsville Avenue.
The Interstate 74 study runs along US 76 from the US 701 interchange to Bolton. The study area then goes southwest towards US 17. The study is looking on how and where to build the four-lane highway that has to be to Interstate standards. NCDOT is currently upgrading the US 74/US 76 bridge to Wrightsville Beach. This project includes redoing the bridge deck, replacing the steel frame structure, painting the bridge, and upgrading the control house. The project is expected to be completed by spring of 2014.
