Kannapolis likes idea of new road name

KANNAPOLIS — City Council has endorsed a request that the state renumber N.C. 136 from Mooresville to Concord to honor the memory of the late Dale Earnhardt.

If approved by the N.C. Department of Transportation, the highway would become N.C. 3, taking on the number closely associated by race fans with the seven-time Winston Cup champion.

Mooresville, where Kannapolis native Earnhardt lived and built his palatial Dale Earnhardt Inc. on N.C. 136, initiated the request and asked Kannapolis and Concord to pass resolutions supporting the change.

City leaders asked the state to change the number of the highway from Mooresville through Kannapolis and Concord, where the highway ends at U.S. 601 Bypass.

The Concord City Council declined to endorse the change. Kannapolis leaders considered a request to renumber only the portion of N.C. 136 that runs from Mooresville through Kannapolis, but said the state probably would not agree.

“If we’re going to do it, let’s endorse it all the way,”Mayor Ray Moss said.

The highway under consideration takes many names from Mooresville in Iredell County to southern Concord. It is Mooresville Road, Loop Road, Centergrove Road, Lake Concord Road and, finally, Branchview Drive.

Assistant Kannapolis City Manager Mike Legg said a renumbering would not affect addresses along the state highway since no residents use N.C. 136 as a street or mailing address.

Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or sjenkins@salisburypost.com .