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US 21

U.S. Route 21 or U.S. Highway 21 (US 21) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in the Southeastern United States that runs 394 miles (634 km). The southern terminus touches the Atlantic Ocean in Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina, 14.4 miles (23.2 km) of US 21 Business and South Carolina Highway 802 (SC 802) in Beaufort, and 10.5 miles (16.8 km) from an Interchange with I-101 in St. Helena Island. The northern terminus is in Wytheville, Virginia at an interchange with I-81 and US 52. It runs through the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. It also connects through major Southeastern cities such as Columbia, South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina. The northern portion of the road travels parallel to Interstate 77 (I-77) in northern South Carolina and North Carolina. The road also has three interchanges with I-26 in Lexington and Calhoun counties in South Carolina.

A United States Highway ending in "1", it is a major north-south road, but it is a regional highway and not a cross-country route. Originally completed in 1926 like most of the United States Numbered Highway System, US 21 was reached north to Cleveland, Ohio and Yemassee, South Carolina. In 1935, it was extended to Beaufort, South Carolina, and again in 1953 to its current southern terminus at the Atlantic Coast at Hunting Island State Park, between the city of Beaufort and Fripp Island. When the Interstate Highway System formed in 1956, much of US 21 became an obvious corridor for a long-distance expressway. The West Virginia Turnpike between Charleston, West Virginia, and Princeton, West Virginia, was the first segment of a planned series of toll highways along or near US 21 from Cleveland, Ohio to Charlotte, North Carolina. All of the other toll highways were shelved in favor of freeways built with Interstate funding; these freeways and the West Virginia Turnpike became I-77, which completely supplanted old US 21 as a long-distance through route. I-77 was later extended to Columbia, South Carolina, also within a few miles of US 21.

Route description[]

South Carolina[]

North Carolina[]

Virginia[]

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