Drawbacks are that not all areas have fully implemented this style of signage, the SR numbers can be small and hard to read, and occasionally the SR numbers are missing from signs. Lincoln Co. 4. Before 1931, many counties had their own road numbering systems in place, as the 1923 Mecklenburg County map indicates. The current SR numbering system was in place by the early 1960s, and is probably much older. Once an SR number is assigned, it is rarely changed.
Exceptions occur when long SRs are straightened out, bypassing older sections.
Occasionally SRs are upgraded to state highways, with an upgrade to the actual roadway usually accompanying the change in status. When cities grow, responsibilty for SRs that were previously outside the old city limits changes hands. Other streets in the subdivision had been annexed in the late 1980s, but in the early 1990s were still signed with SR numbers on posts. Also, Sharon Road in Charlotte is still SR 3600, even though it's been maintained by the city for decades. In 1989, the state passed a road bill that for a short time gave North Carolina the highest gasoline tax in the nation.