Route:
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Begins where Old Wake Forest Rd. turns off to the right, near the Darryl's.
Ends at Old NC 98 outside of Wake Forest.
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Attractions:
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The Falls Lake Dam is just south of Wake Forest, although it's technically
in Raleigh. (Don't ask.) And the huge Wakefield development, featuring
a Hale Irwin-signature TPC golf course, is between the dam and Old NC 98.
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Major Intersections:
(south to north)
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Wake Forest Rd., Millbrook Rd., Spring Forest Rd., Strickland Rd., I-540 (exit 14), Durant Rd., and (almost) NC 98. Why doesn't it hit real NC 98? When the Neuse River was dammed to create Falls Lake, what is today Old NC 98 was the NC 98. The road required a relocation because of the lake, and so we are left with Falls of Neuse ending at Old NC 98 (which, about 2 miles to the west, disappears into Falls Lake).
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Notes:
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The southern mile or so of Falls of Neuse, from Wake Forest to Quail Ridge
Rd., is subject to the same horror as Wake Forest: a 7-lane road with 8'
wide lanes. Shudder.
North of Quail Ridge, Falls of Neuse is 5 lanes wide and each lane is 13'
wide, wider than usual. It makes life quite nice after being on the
7-lane gauntlet.
The temporary end of I-540 is at its interchange with Falls of Neuse, which is still a construction zone itself (undergoing 5-lane widening). Guaranteed headache at both rush hours.
Back in the days of US 1A, Falls of Neuse was routed down Bland Rd. to
meet Wake Forest Rd. at today's Wake Forest/Hardimont/New Hope Church intersection.
When Wake Forest was widened, in the early 60s, Falls of Neuse was truncated
to its current end.
There is a big philosophical debate in Raleigh over the name of this road.
See, no one calls it "Falls of Neuse"...it's more convenient to insert
a "the" in between "of" and "Neuse", so it becomes Falls of the Neuse.
However, official city documents refer to Falls of Neuse without the "the",
so that's the way I'm presenting it. Confused yet?
One more thing: Due to Falls Lake's existence, there are no more falls
on the Neuse. However, before the lake was dammed, there was a waterfall
on the Neuse right near where the dam is today. That's where the
name comes from.
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