May 1, 2026 — On My Way To Hilton Head

Comfort Inn (15,000 points)

Florence, South Carolina

May 2, 2026

Yesterday I began my two-day journey to Hilton Head where I will spend the next two weeks. Pre summer beach trip. According to Google Maps, the fastest way there is to take I64 to Richmond and then join the crowd driving I95 south. I thought about taking “blue highways” but decided the extra time was not worth it — this time!

It’s my second road trip in my new Toyota 4Runner. I love Hi Ho Silver and we’ve been a great team but the 4Runner sure feels like a step up in comfort (and not worrying about driving a vehicle with 412,000 miles on it).

I wandered off of 95 to visit Wilson, North Carolina. I’ll write a separate post on that fun excursion. To return to 95, I found myself driving 15 miles or so on US 301. The route number looked familiar and I was correct — in my travels over the years in the Mid-Atlantic, I have driven on 301 in various places.

Here’s the story of US 301 (thanks Wikipedia).

U.S. Route 301 (US 301) is a spur of U.S. Route 1 running through the South Atlantic states. It runs 1,099 miles from Biddles Corner, Delaware, at Delaware Route 1 to Sarasota, Florida, at U.S. Route 41. It passes through the states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It goes through the cities of Middletown, Delaware; Annapolis, Maryland; Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia; Rocky Mount, Wilson, and Fayetteville, North Carolina; Florence, South Carolina; Statesboro and Jesup, Georgia; and Jacksonville, Ocala, Zephyrhills, and Sarasota, Florida.

US 301 is paralleled by Interstate 95 for much of its routing through The Carolinas and Virginia including short concurrencies in Santee, South Carolina, and Lumberton, North Carolina. It has a number of other concurrencies along its route.

As originally commissioned, US 301's northern terminus was at US 1 in Petersburg, Virginia. The original southern end was at a junction with then-US 17 between Florence and Marion, South Carolina.

US 301 was established in 1932 as a replacement of the piece of US 17-1 north of Wilson and the whole of US 217. Thus US 301 initially ran from US 17 (now US 76) at Pee Dee, South Carolina northeast through Dillon, Lumberton, Fayetteville, Dunn, Smithfield, Wilson, Rocky Mount, and Emporia, ending at US 1 in Petersburg, Virginia.[citation needed] This entire route is now paralleled by Interstate 95. US 301 was at one time alternately referred to as Federal Route No. 301 early in its existence.

In 1935, US 301 was extended southwest to US 15 at Summerton. This extension took it west on US 76 (formerly US 17) to Florence and south on US 52 (also formerly US 17) to Effingham. There it split to the southwest, running along what had been SC 4 via Manning to Summerton. This again runs parallel to Interstate 95.

The next extension was to the north in late 1940, coinciding with the opening of the Potomac River Bridge. US 301 was extended north along US 1 from Petersburg to Richmond, then north on SR 2 to Bowling Green, and northeast on SR 207 to the bridge. In Maryland it continued along the new alignment off the bridge to Newburg, Maryland, and then replaced MD 3 all the way to US 1 in Baltimore, Maryland.

"The Short Route New York to Florida" on a motel postcard c.1940s

In the late 1940s, US 301 was extended again, south all the way to Tampa, Florida. In South Carolina it ran along US 15 southwest to Santee, South Carolina and replaced SC 4 west to Orangeburg, South Carolina. From Orangeburg, US 301 ran southwest with US 601 to Bamberg, South Carolina, replaced SC 33 to Ulmer, South Carolina, replaced SC 508 to Allendale, South Carolina, and replaced SC 73 to the Georgia state line. In Georgia, US 301 was marked along SR 73 to Glennville, Georgia, SR 23 to Folkston, and SR 4 to the border with Florida, numbers that it still has today.

In Florida it ran along SR 15 to Callahan, SR 200 to Ocala, SR 25/SR 500 to Belleview, SR 35 to Dade City, SR 39 to Zephyrhills, and State Road 41 to Tampa, Florida. As with Georgia, these State Road numbers still exist.

The final extension to the south was made in the early 1950s. US 301 was realigned to turn east on U.S. Route 92/SR 600 in northern Tampa and south on SR 43; SR 43 was later extended north to meet SR 41 at Thonotosassa. This was done at the same time as US 541 was eliminated and US 41 was moved onto the former US 541 south of Tampa; US 301 ran along what had been US 41. This extension took US 301 south to Palmetto along SR 43/former US 41, south on SR 45/US 41 over the Manatee River into Bradenton, Florida (replaced 1957 by a new bridge to the east on SR 55), and south on SR 683 to end at SR 45/US 41 in Sarasota.

In 1960, US 301 was extended to its greatest extent, Sarasota to Farnhurst. The part from near Bowie north to Baltimore reverted to MD 3, and US 301 was extended east along US 50 from near Bowie over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Queenstown. There it split to the northeast, replacing MD 71 to the Delaware state line. In Delaware, it continued concurrent with DE 71 to Middletown. There it split into a one-way pair on two two-way roads. US 301 northbound turned east at Middletown along DE 299, then running north on US 13 to its end at Farnhurst at I-295 - the Delaware Memorial Bridge approach. Southbound US 301 began at the same place, but only used US 13 to the DE 71 junction near Red Lion. From there it followed DE 71 all the way to Maryland, rejoining northbound at Middletown. In the early 1970s, the northbound alignment was modified, continuing north on Middletown with DE 71 across the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal on the Summit Bridge. After crossing the canal it continued north on DE 896 to Glasgow, where it turned east with US 40 to its merge with US 13 at State Road. In the mid-1980s, both directions were moved to run east from Mount Pleasant to US 13.

Then in 1992, AASHTO approved relocating both directions to the path northbound had followed, joining US 40 at Glasgow. Signage currently now indicates that US 301 ends there,[citation needed] but on November 14, 2006, the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) announced that a new four-lane US 301 bypass will be built. The bypass, which had been proposed since the 1950s, would go west of Middletown, alleviating traffic conditions in state's fourth most populous town, and then travel in a northeasterly direction, intersecting the current DE 896 near Boyds Corner and then terminate at DE 1 near the highway's Biddles Corner toll plaza. A spur route, also following the old 1960s highway route, will connect US 301 with the four-lane Summit Bridge just south of Glasgow. When built, the road, like Delaware Route 1 and I-95, will charge a toll to cover the costs of building the new bypass, which is heavily used by trucks between Philadelphia and the Washington, D.C. metro areas. This bypass opened to traffic on January 10, 2019.

According to one source, US 301 had been known as "Tobacco Trail" prior to its renaming in 1960 to "The Miss Universe Highway".

US 301 in Middletown at northern terminus of concurrency with DE 15 and DE 299 in 2008. The route was moved to a new toll road alignment through Delaware in 2019.

Prior to 2019, US 301 in Delaware started at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Delaware Route 896 in Glasgow. The highway was cosigned with DE 896, picking up Delaware Route 71 only three miles south of U.S. 40. Running parallel to US 13 and Delaware Route 1, the highway crossed the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal on the four-lane Summit Bridge. At Mount Pleasant, DE 896 headed east to intersect U.S. 13 at Boyd's Corner, while DE 71 continued to be cosigned with U.S. 301 until the road reached Middletown. U.S. 301 continued alone until it picked up two other roads, Delaware Route 15 and Delaware Route 299, which followed the highway to near the Maryland state line. On November 14, 2006, DelDOT announced that a new four-lane bypass around Middletown will reroute US 301 west of Middletown, with the road directly connecting to DE 1 in Biddles Corner. This bypass opened to traffic on January 10, 2019.