Enters Wake County 3 miles west of Apex.
Leaves Wake County 2 miles northeast of Zebulon.
64 likes freeways and multilane roads; there is no section of 64 under four lanes.

Major
Intersections:

NC 55 in Apex.
M-US 1 from just inside Cary to I-40.
M-I-40 from exit 293-301, then m-I-440 from I-40 exit 301 to exit 13B.
Crosses US 70/401/NC 50 at I-40 exit 298.
M-US 264 from I-440 to just outside Zebulon.
Comes really close to NC 97 near Wendell.
NC 96 in Zebulon.

History:

US 64 came into being in Wake County in 1932, and it has changed such over the years that the only part that conceivably is on an original alignment is the part west of Salem St. in Apex (and that's debatable; I can't confirm or refute it). 64 was originally routed on Chatham St. through Cary, where it was multiplexed with US 1 into Raleigh.

In downtown Raleigh, when 1 turned north on Wake Forest Rd., 64 kept going east along New Bern Ave. The section of what is now Business 64 from the Beltline to the 64/Business 64 interchange east of Knightdale was the last confirmed part of original 64; only one short portion was bypassed along this route, near the Neuse River.

64 was not routed onto the Beltline until it was finished to New Bern Ave. in the mid '60s, and it has stayed on the Beltline ever since.  The portion of the Beltline that 64 is routed on, however, has changed; from the 1/64/40/440 mess in Cary, 64 is now routed along the I-40 portion east to the 40/440 split, when it joins 440 to exit 14. (There was a time in early 2001 when eastbound 64 was again signed along the inner Beltline according to the signs at the Crossroads interchange, but these have since been fixed with some crude cutting-and-pasting, courtesy of NCDOT.)

Attractions:

See the I-40 page for all of the wonderful attractions while 64 and 40 are multiplexed.  As for 64 itself, it used to run through Lizard Lick, but NC 97 now has that honor.

Comments:

As cool as 64 is through the mountains, it is an incredibly non-descript road through Wake County.  With the completion of the Knightdale bypass, hopefully the days of the New Bern Ave. parking lot will be reduced in frequency, since long-distance traffic will take the bypass instead of being thrown into the same cauldron as commuters along New Bern.  

Begins at I-440 exit 14.
Bypasses Knightdale to the south, and connects to the current freeway bypass of Wendell.
Also carries US 264 along its length.

Major
Intersections:

I-440 exit 14, and Business 64 at the eastern end (exit 429). That's it.

History:

Boy, is this road a long time coming.

Ever since eastern Wake County became a bedroom community for RTP commuters in the early 1980s, poor old New Bern Ave. had handled just about all the commuter traffic coming from anywhere east of the Beltline. On top of that, US 64 is the main route to points east of Raleigh, and is a main connection to I-95 in Nash County, so there was plenty of through traffic to contend with as well. The towns of eastern Wake County, particularly Knightdale, were so adamant to get a bypass completed that they actually sued the state at one point (the suit was later dropped) claiming the state was causing their towns harm by not adequately addressing the traffic troubles on 64.

The Knightdale bypass, as the new road came to be called (North Carolinians aren't much for anything other than straight-to-the-point names), began construction in 2002 as a six-lane freeway with three intermediate interchanges between the termini. It was scheduled for completion in August 2005, but in a watershed moment for Wake County road construction -- remember, I-540 was only 20 years late -- the bypass was finished a month early. (Mike Tantillo reports that from the awarding of the initial contract to completion, the construction took 13 years, but hey, it finished a month early, so let's party!)

Exit List:

Exit 419: I-440 east/west
Exit 420: New Hope Rd.
Exit 422: Hodge Rd.
Exit 423 (future): I-540
Exit 425: Smithfield Rd.
Exit 429: Business 64 (at this point, the bypass ties into the pre-existing Wendell freeway bypass)

"Exit 421"

There's one other "exit" worth noting on the bypass.

Between New Hope and Hodge roads, right next to the Neuse River, is a bridge carrying a local access to a county park. Next to that bridge, on the north side of the bypass, is what amounts to a service road -- not at all unlike a city greenway in Raleigh. What makes this interesting is that the greenway dumps directly onto the bypass, with no access control whatsoever save some wooden gates -- and the greenway contains an intact railroad crossing!

I've been told that this greenway has always existed, as an access to the Anderson Point park on the south side of 64 at Rogers Lane, and the railroad crossing has always been there too. But it literally leads nowhere now; why bother maintaining a path that can only lead to trouble? Again, there are no guardrails along this stretch of westbound 64, and only a 2-foot-high wooden gate protects pedestrians from trains and bypass traffic. It's an accident waiting to happen.

Disclaimer: If you go to this part of the park, use extreme caution. Wake County Roads is not responsible for any injuries or bad luck that befalls you while exploring Exit 421. Now that the bypass is open, we strongly urge pedestrians to remain behind the wooden gates at all times!

Below are some pictures of "Exit 421" taken before the bypass was opened to traffic. Note that the road is basically in ready condition; if not for some work being done at the Beltline, it looks ready to open at this point.

Southbound on the greenway approaching Exit 421. Yes, this is an active railroad track, no more than 30 feet from where traffic will be flying by at 65 mph!

Looking at the railroad crossing from the other side of the tracks, you can see where the greenway leads. There's even a railroad crossing warning sign on the greenway approaching the crossing, although it isn't evident in this picture.

This BGS will face eastbound traffic. The empty brackets to the left will hold signs for I-540 when that freeway is completed to the bypass in late 2007.

More pictures to come -- legally, of course :) -- now that the bypass is open.

Begins multiplexed with US 64 at I-440 exit 14.
Leaves Wake County 1 mile east of NC 39 interchange.
264 is signed along the US 64 bypass of Knightdale.

Major
Intersections:

NC 96 while multiplexed with US 64 in Zebulon.
NC 97 just outside Zebulon.
NC 39 2 miles east of Zebulon.

History:

264 hasn't changed much since its introduction in the early '30s.  The only differences that I can tell is that there is an old routing of 264 (signed Alternate 264 in Franklin and Nash counties; unnumbered in Wake) paralleling the 264 freeway outside Zebulon, and it didn't extend all the way to Raleigh (it ended at the US 64 interchange) until 1995.

Attractions:

Goes past Five County Stadium, home of the Carolina Mudcats, but not much else.

Comments:

I had originally thought that 264 would take over the New Bern Ave. routing by itself once the 64 bypass opened, but that route carries an extension of Business 64 instead. 264 continues to run along the new bypass with 64, and ends at the Beltline (complete with an END 264 sign).

The only reason I can think of that 264 runs with 64 from Zebulon west is that people heading to Greenville and Wilson can follow one route number from Raleigh to wherever they're going. It makes enough sense, except I wonder how people found their way to points east before 264 was extended along 64 westward...

How many roads begin and end multiplexed with the same highway?  264 does--its other end (along with US 64's) is at US 158 and NC 12 in Nags Head.