Route:

Begins at Millbrook Rd. in NW Raleigh.  Leaves Wake County a bit northwest of the interchange with I-540; the road continues to intersect US 70 just outside Durham.

Attractions:

Not a whole lot.

Major Intersections:
(south to north)

Millbrook Rd., Lynn Rd., Strickland Rd., I-540 (exit 7).  (And then the aforementioned intersection with US 70 in Durham County.)

Notes:

The history of Leesville Rd. is about as interesting as any road in north Raleigh.  It began as an alternate to US 70, called NC 9, in 1930.   However, since a whole lotta people realized that NC 9 in conjunction with US 15A (today's NC 50) provided a fairly decent alternate to US 70, the state decided to sign it US 70-A in 1938.  This lasted until Glenwood Ave. was built in the late '40s, probably 1949. After this point, Leesville didn't have a number.

Leesville Rd. got its name after the crossroads of Leesville, at the intersection with Strickland Rd. Formerly housing a gas station, a general store, a church, and plenty of farmland, today Leesville is best known for the twice-daily rush hour backups. Even the gas station has gone under, and the newest occupant of the crossroads is a shopping center at the intersection of I-540.

The history of the southern part of Leesville is very intertwined with the Millbrook Rd. western extension in 1991. Before Millbrook came through, Leesville went along its current alignment between the current split and Town & Country Rd. It ran over Town & Country to the Lead Mine Rd. split, and from there all the way down current Lead Mine to US 70 at the eastern end of Crabtree Valley Mall. Once Millbrook showed up, however, Town & Country came into being, Lead Mine took over the southern part of Leesville down to US 70 (which explains why you have to make a turn to stay on Lead Mine today), and Leesville was truncated to its current end. (More on Millbrook on the Millbrook Rd. page, once I get it up.)