Hear ye: US Route 70 deserves some respect

US Route 66 shouldn’t get to have all the fun. 

US Route 70 deserves some love as well.

While national publicity has been directed toward the revitalization of a “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” campaign, it’s important to note that both highways are observing their 100-year anniversary this year.

 

Each route was among the original “numbered-U.S. highways” that were authorized on Nov. 11, 1926, by the newly established U.S. Highway System. 

(The map showing US Route 70 is shown below.)

 

Kudos to the I-42/US 70 Corridor Commission for adopting a formal Resolution of Appreciation on Sept. 22, recognizing the historical significance of US Route 70 as one of the nation’s longest and scenic east-west transcontinental highways.

The I-42/US 70 Corridor Commission is a public/private partnership that was founded 20 years ago (in 2006) by key government and business leaders from five counties (Carteret, Craven, Johnston, Lenoir and Wayne) to advocate for the conversion of the 140-mile corridor from Raleigh to Morehead City into interstate-quality freeway.

 

The commission’s executive director Durwood Stephenson said: “Our organization wanted to be among the first to go on record in support of celebrating US Route 70’s centennial year, because the eastern terminus of the highway is in our own backyard – in Atlantic, an historic fishing village in the Down East section of Carteret County.”

“It’s an opportunity to reflect on US Route 70’s rich heritage and scenic beauty, while also showcasing the improvements and upgrades that are propelling us forward as we transition to I-42.” (Presently, nearly 32 miles are officially signed as I-42.)

 

Traveling the full length of US Route 70, about 2,385 miles from Atlantic in Carteret County to Globe, Ariz., is a “bucket-list adventure” for many travelers during the highway’s centennial year.

 

Sources say that “US Route 70 is well known amongst motorcycle and bicycle enthusiasts as the preferred transcontinental highway.”

The North Carolina portion of US Route 70 drapes across the breadth of the state, from east to west, like a 488-mile jeweled necklace.

Traveling west from Atlantic, motorists quickly encounter a stretch of US Route 70 that is contained within the “Outer Banks National Scenic Byway” and includes the villages of Sea Level, Masontown, Stacy, Davis, Williston, Smyrna, Otway and Bettie. 

(Perhaps this is the only section of the entire US Route 70 corridor that is part of the National Scenic Byway network.)

 

We’re all fairly familiar with the “US Route 70 highlights” that exist between Beaufort and Clayton in Johnston County, but continuing eastward into Raleigh, known as the “City of Oaks,” motorists will discover two functioning carousels. 

One is at Pullen Park (shown above) near the North Carolina State University campus. The other is at John Chavis Memorial Park (shown below) near Shaw University.

 

Moving on, Durham is the site of Bennett Place, an old farmhouse that was the location of “the largest surrender of Confederate soldiers in the Civil War.”

 

It is here that Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and Confederate Gen. Joseph Eggleston Johnston peacefully hammered out the terms of surrender. 

The Confederate soldiers formally laid down their arms on April 26, 1865, ending the war for 89,270 Rebel troops who were still fighting in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

The Sarah P. Duke Gardens, on the Duke University campus in Durham, is ranked as one of the top 10 public gardens in the country.

 

Another top attraction is the Duke Lemur Center, which is a world leader in the study, care and protection of lemurs – considered to be the world’s most threatened group of mammals. 

More than 200 lemurs live within the center, one of the most diverse collections of lemurs found outside their native Madagascar.