Established as an original U.S. Highway in 1927, it originally traversed from
West End, through
Asheboro,
High Point,
Winston-Salem,
Madison, and
Stoneville, before entering
Virginia and continuing to
Roanoke, where it reached its parent route,
US 11. The alignment followed part of what was
NC 70 and all of
NC 77, both of which were decommissioned in 1934. In 1933, US 311 was extended south through
Pinehurst,
Aberdeen, and
Laurinburg, to
Rowland, overlapping
NC 241. A year later,
US 220 was established and replaced US 311 south of
Asheboro and north of
Madison, severing the connection with its parent route. Sections further south were replaced by
NC 2 (today's
NC 211) and
US 501. Later in 1966, US 311 was truncated in
Randleman; by 1973, US 311 southern terminus was moved to
US 220 Bypass, in
Randleman. By 1952, US 311 was rerouted west of downtown
Winston-Salem, following Waughtown Road, Stadium Drive, Claremont Avenue and 7th Street, to New Walkertown Road. In the mid-1980s, US 311 was moved onto new freeway through southeast
Forsyth County. Part of the freeway shortly became a stretch of
I-40, eventually running concurrently with the Interstate. In 1996, the route through
Winston-Salem changed again, this time also going north along
US 52/
NC 8 to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive then east onto New Walkertown Road. In 1997, the first section of the East Belt was opened in
High Point, rerouting US 311 onto the new freeway to Eastchester Drive then back into downtown
High Point with concurrency with
NC 68. The old alignment along North Main Street became US 311 Business. On November 20, 2004, the second section of the "East Belt" was opened, rerouting US 311 to
I-85 Bus./
US 29/
US 70. On November 22, 2010, the third and final section of the East Belt was completed, linking
I-85; Also
I-74 was established as a concurrency of US 311 from Cedar Square Road to North Main Street. In September 2003, US 311 was extended north from
Madison to
NC 14/
NC 87/
NC 770 in
Eden, via
US 220 and
NC 135. The extension was finally signed in August 2011. US 311 was signed in the field in Virginia, from Danville south to the state line (replacing secondary State Route 863) in September 2013. Since 2003, a project called the US 311 Connector has been planned by NCDOT and the city of Winston-Salem. Estimated at $23.5 million (equivalent to $ in ), the , four-lane,
partial controlled-access highway would connect between I-40 (exit 196) and I-40 Business (exit 8) (now US 421, exit 230), linking US 311 with US 158 (Reidsville Road); it also included a landscaped medium with walking/bicycle trails parallel to it. By 2016, the project has ceased appearing in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), though still part of the Winston-Salem 2035 Transportation Plan. In May 2018, AASHTO approved a request by NCDOT to eliminate between Randleman and Winston-Salem, moving the southern terminus from I-73/US 220 in Randleman to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Winston-Salem, as all but of this section is freeway which already has other primary designations; those non-redundant sections would be reassigned secondary North Carolina routes. In January 2019, NCDOT officially eliminated the section. Despite this, signage for US 311 from along I-74 southeast of High Point to its former southern terminus at I-73/US 220 in Randleman remains as of June 2023. In November 2024, US 311 was relocated onto the newly constructed Harville–Saunders Parkway, moving its northern terminus to an interchange with
US 58 and the western terminus of
State Route 1260 (SR 1260) in
Danville. The former route following Berry Hill Road north of Harville-Saunders Parkway to US 311's previous northern terminus at
U.S. Route 58 Business (US 58 Bus.) and
SR 872 (Meadowview Drive) was redesignated as
U.S. Route 311 Alternate (US 311 Alt.). Although US 311 Alt. was designated as an alternate route, it does not reconnect to US 311 near Danville; instead its northern end is at US 58 Bus.
North Carolina Highway 897 North Carolina Highway 897 (
NC 897) was an original state highway that traversed from
NC 60/
NC 65, in Winston-Salem, to
SR 33 at the Virginia state line. Going north on Liberty Street, from 4th Street, in Winston-Salem, it went at a northeasterly route along Old Walkertown Road and Pine Hall Road to
Pine Hall. Continuing northeasterly, it connects
Madison,
Mayodan,
Stoneville and
Price, North Carolina before reaching the Virginia state line. In 1925, it was renumbered as part of
NC 77. Today, all of the
Forsyth and
Stokes section of NC 897 have been downgraded to secondary roads; while the Pine Hall to Madison section is part of US 311 and the Madison to Stoneville is part of
US 220 Business. ==Junction list==