Overview North Carolina's Interstates, U.S. and N.C. routes receive most of the state's high-speed traffic, attention and funding. But they only account for about 15,000 of the 78,000 miles of roadways maintained by the state. The bulk of the state's road network consists of secondary roads. The prefix SR officially stands for State Road and explicitly not Secondary Road or Route. Long SR's are connecting roads, funneling rural traffic to and between primary highways and smaller villages.
Short SRs provide access to residences.
Long SRs are usually paved. Although they are generally designed for slightly lower travel speeds than highways are, many long SRs are still suitable for travel at 50-55 mph. They usually carry only a few hundred vehicles per day, whereas most rural highways carry well into the thousands per day. Short SRs tend to be unpaved and lack most modern design features. They typically carry fewer than 100 vehicles per day, almost all of which are local residents.