page_title: U.S. Route 52 in North Carolina
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Route 52 in North Carolina / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Crews have installed the girders on the new U.S. 52 South bridge over Liberty Street in Winston-Salem. They are now conducting paving work. The bridge is scheduled to open to traffic this fall.
context_page_description: U.S. Route 52 is a north–south United States highway that runs for 150 miles from the South Carolina state line, near McFarlan, to the Virginia state line, near Mount Airy. It serves as a strategic highway through the central North Carolina Piedmont. Because of its alignment in the state, US 52 does not follow the standard convention of an even U.S. route number going east–west.
context_section_description: US 52 was established in 1934 as a replacement of US 121/NC 66 from the Virginia state line, near Mount Airy, to Lexington and replacement of US 601/NC 80 from Lexington to the South Carolina state line, near McFarlan.
  In the mid-1930s, US 52 was placed on current routing between Rocky River-Norwood and Misenheimer-Gold Hill.  In Wadesboro, US 52 was routed along Morgan-Washington-Martin Streets; while in Stokes County, US 52 was placed on new road between Pilot Mountain and King.
  In 1941, US 52 was removed from Salisbury Road and placed on its current routing, with US 29/70, south of Lexington.  Between 1945-1949, US 52 was split in downtown Winston-Salem:  northbound using the original Main Street route, southbound using Liberty Street and First Street.  In 1949, US 52 was placed on a new bypass east of Pilot Mountain, leaving US 52A along the main street route.
  In 1952, US 52 was placed onto new northern bypass of Lexington, its old route through became part of US 29A/70A and NC 8.  In 1953, US 52 was placed onto new western bypass of Mount Airy, its old route through became US 52A (today US 52 Business).  In either 1956 or 1957, US 52 was placed on its current route through Wadesboro, via US 74; also around same time period, US 52 was removed from Old Fancy Gap Road near the Virginia state line.
  From 1960-1972, the next series of changes were in the Winston-Salem area; starting in 1960 with US 52 was removed from Main Street and onto Old Salem Road.  In 1962, US 52 northbound was changed to Main Street, Fifth Street, and Liberty Street.  By 1964, US 52 was placed onto new freeway from Winston-Salem, just south of East-West Expressway, to Pilot Mountain; this replaced the old route from Stanleyville to Pilot Mountain, becoming simply Old US 52.  By 1973, US 52 was completed moved onto the completed North-South Expressway in Forsyth County, completely removing US 52 from all regular roads through the county.
  In 1971, US 52 was joined with I-85, from the Yadkin River to Salisbury, leaving the downtown area.  In 1980, the freeway from Forsyth County extended into Davidson County at Midway.  By 1982, New London was placed on a short bypass west of town.  Between 1985-1987, US 52 was given its current Albemarle bypass routing; in October, 2010, the routing was rebuilt along its southern portion.  Between 1991-1993, US 52 was extended further south onto new freeway from Midway to Welcome in north Davidson County; by 1995, the freeway connected with the Lexington bypass, completing US 52's move from rural road to freeway from Lexington to Mount Airy.
  From 2010-2017, a series of road improvements have been made along US 52 in Winston-Salem, including replacement of bridges, interchanges and widening of lanes/shoulders.  The initial change was a replacement of the Liberty Street bridges (built in 1964) over Liberty Street and the Norfolk Southern Railroad Switching Yard.  The project included the permanent ramp closure of exit 111-B, on February 19, 2011; the entire project was completed on November 1, 2012.  In 2012, exit 110-A to Third, Fourth, Fifth Street was permanently closed related to the widening of US 52 and extending new acceleration lanes to the neighboring interchanges.  In 2013, construction began on the Salem Creek Connector (later becoming an extension of Research Parkway), at a cost of $68.9 million, it involved reconfiguring exit 108-B (replacing Vargrave Street with Research Parkway), the permanent closure of 108-C (Stadium Drive, later renamed Rams Drive), bridge replacements (including a truss flyover for Norfolk Southern) and the realignment of area roads.  On January 6, 2014, exit 108-B was closed and Vargrave Street razed.  On July 12, 2017, exit 108-B reopened to the public as Research Parkway, utilizing a diverging diamond interchange layout; exit 108-C to Rams Drive was then permanently closed, with bridge replacement to be completed in November.
caption: Construction of replacement bridges over Liberty Street
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