US 17 enters
Brunswick County in
Carolina Shores amid a variety of golf course communities. Carolina Shores was part of Calabash until 1998. In
Wilmington, US 17 (here concurrent with
US 76 and
US 421) crosses the
Cape Fear River between
New Hanover and Brunswick counties over the
Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. US 17 then travels east through the city of Wilmington with US 76 on Wooster/Dawson streets and Oleander Drive, intersecting
US 117,
North Carolina Highway 132 (NC 132), and
US 74. At the end of the US 76
concurrency near
Wrightsville Beach, US 17 travels north as Military Cutoff Road before meeting up with Market Street and
US 17 Business (US 17 Bus.) and exiting the city northeast. North of
Holly Ridge, US 17 begins to move further away from the
Atlantic Coast. Then, it bypasses Jacksonville along with
NC 24. Between
New Bern and
James City, US 17 (concurrent with
US 70 and
NC 55) crosses the
Trent River by way of the Freedom Memorial Bridge. Farther east, between James City and
Bridgeton, US 17, still concurrent with NC 55, crosses the
Neuse River over the Neuse River Bridge. Traffic going north on US 17 when using US 70's concurrency can bypass New Bern altogether via
NC 43, ironically both the west end of US 17's concurrency on US 70 and NC 43's southern terminus both, respectively have a north and south protrusion of
unused highway since full cloverleaf junctions were scrapped in the area. US 17 enters into
Washington as it splits into its business route and mainline freeway bypass, crossing the
Pamlico River over the Pamlico–Tar River Bridge on both stretches, shortly before the route intersects with
US 264. Farther along in
Bear Grass, US 17 joins a concurrency with a limited-access portion of
US 13/
US 64, although US 64 moves east before US 13/US 17 reaches
Williamston, where the limited-access segment ends. US 13/US 17 uses the Roanoke River Bridge to cross the
Roanoke River, then, before US 13 moves onto the interchange with North King Street, it crosses the Cashie River Bridge over the
Cashie River at
Windsor. At the
Bertie–
Chowan county line, US 17 traverses the
Chowan River from Edenhouse to
Edenton. East of Edenton, US 17 shares a concurrency with
NC 37 until they reach
Hertford where it branches off to the northwest onto
US 17 Bus. US 17 crosses the
Perquimans River via the Perquimans River Bridge. Between
Perquimans and
Pasquotank counties, US 17 crosses the
Little River over the Little River Bridge. A bypass route splits off to the northwest as US 17 (Mainline) continues into
Elizabeth City as Hughes Boulevard, picking up concurrency with
US 158 until US 158 splits off to the west at
Morgan's Corner. US 17 crosses the
Pasquotank River between
Morgan's Corner in Pasquotank County and
South Mills in
Camden County, before entering Virginia adjacent to the
Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. ==History==