All but the very last photo are not on US 311 anymore. US 311 used to make it up to Roanoke, was truncated as far as Madison, then extended to Eden, and back into Virginia to Danville. Meanwhile, after being a C-shaped loop of US 220 that takes traffic to Winston-Salem instead of Greensboro, the southern half of that loop was chopped off so that it actually looks like a normal highway again (entirely northeasterly). It's still redundant with US 158 to US 29 and too short to have a reason to exist.


What was still US 311 in 2013, heading north past the highway that would eliminate it. The eastern segment of I-74 connecting to I-73 was then under construction. These photos look north along what will become I-74 WB.


NB at the future I-74 WB ramps.


US 311 temporarily followed Cedar Square Rd. to get from the old alignment to the then-opened future I-74 freeway. The Interstate shield is premature, as the highway wasn't officially I-74 until its completion. All traces of heading east are forbidden.


Since I can't drive east, let's just look that way. I was there in March 2013, and it opened that June.


Cedar Square Rd. SB also has covered its EB/SB shields.


Down an entrance ramp with a closed partner, onto a freeway with a closed upstream.

At least put a FUTURE banner on I-74.

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The next 8 photos are courtesy Lou Corsaro.


SB at Exit 19A outside High Point. Even though exits are numbered according to US 311's miles (i.e. increasing to the northwest), this will become part of I-74, which continues toward the southeast toward Randleman and its future junction with I-73, and then will no longer be US 311. The odd thing about Exit 19A is that the intersected road (US 29/70/Business I-85) is also a freeway, and yet the interchange is a three-level diamond (a.k.a. "volleyball") - so you can't get from one freeway to the other without passing through at least one traffic light.


The RIDOT business shield is offset by the nifty double shield, here on what was then US 311 NB. But US 70 should be WEST.


US 311 then joins along for the ride. US 311 now follows the I-74 freeway, so it crosses US 29/70/Business I-85 with no concurency.


Facing the other way, US 311 is about to dismount the three-headed horse at an old BGS.


Business US 311 becomes regular US 311 at the old cloverleaf on the south side of High Point. Because it's a cloverleaf, this is already US 311 SB (but NB has already left the other side). The only legible part of the sign says "29-70". It has been faded by decades of wear, since it dates to before the existence of I-85 and thus the Business I-85 designation that now also belongs to the freeway overhead.


This is in fact on US 311 BUSINESS in High Point. It's okay, US 311 used to go this way. No, wait, still not okay.


The former route of US 311, NB leaving US 311 Business to the northwest of High Point just shy of the beginning of NC 66.


Back to my own photos. In 2013, I-74's exit numbers were pasted on top of US 311's (this was Exit 25), and now run from west to east instead of south to north. It makes more sense with US 311 truncated. Business US 311 South was signed here, running down through High Point.


Different ways of signing Future I-74 or just ignoring that aspect. (Milemarkers tend to be installed ahead of the game since the tiny shields are more numerous, harder to patch over, and tend to not be noticed as closely by motorists.)


Elements of construction at I-40 include the unbuilt I-74 EB to I-40 WB ramp that merges into the NB-WB mainline in the second photo. This segment of I-74 ends here until the Winston-Salem bypass is built.


All three of these routes now multiplex in Madison, but until recently this was the northern end of US 311 (since 1934). Courtesy Lou Corsaro, the signs certainly predate that occurrence - I saw a Michael Summa photo from 1996 with the same US 311 shield in it (if not the same entire assembly). In fact, as of mid-2008, there were still no signs of the extension of US 311 north along Business US 220 and east along NC 770 to Eden. But it does go that way.

Onto Business I-85 (and US 29/70)
Onto US 29 alone
Onto US 70 alone
To I-85
Onto I-40
Onto (regular) US 220
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