1953 Ocean Highway Tourism Map (Courtesy of
Chris Curley)
The twenty-first century is already seeing major changes to the Ocean Highway. Bypasses in New Bern and Elizabeth City are open. Plans for bypasses of Wilmington and Jacksonville are either under construction or being planned. The purpose of the route has progressively from a slow coastal tourism highway to a high speed through route along the Atlantic Coast. This page and the pages that follow will allow you to see both the old and the new at the same time, something you can't do by car.
Travel the Ocean Highway
A historic inlet town and her three routes of the Ocean Highway
Washington
The first to be named after George
Washington and a great waterfront. 
The Ocean Highway
may have been a successor of the old South Atlantic Ocean Highway.
A 1926 Rand McNally Junior Road Map of North Carolina (below right) shows
the South Atlantic Ocean Route.
| An interesting note about the 1926 Routing of the South Atlantic Ocean Highway is that it seems to have a split route. The modern Ocean Highway and US 17 runs along the New Bern alignment (right). | 
(1926 RM Image, Courtesy RV Droz) |
Currently, my research is in the preliminary stages. However, this project cannot be a success without the enthusiasm of readers like yourself. If you have stories or photos or links that you would like to be included in this essay, please e-mail me.
