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Coastal Highway | ||||
Route information | ||||
Length | 1,206.47 mi[citation needed] (1,941.63 km) | |||
Existed | 1926[citation needed]–present | |||
Major junctions | ||||
South end | US 41 in Punta Gorda, FL | |||
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North end | US 11 / US 50 / US 522 in Winchester, VA | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United States | |||
States | Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia | |||
Highway system | ||||
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U.S. Route 17 or U.S. Highway 17 (US 17), also known as the Coastal Highway, is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that spans in the Southeastern United States. It runs close to the Atlantic Coast for much of its length, with the exception of the portion between Punta Gorda and Jacksonville, Florida, and the portion from Fredericksburg to Winchester, Virginia, both of which follow a more inland route. Major metropolitan areas served along US 17's route include the Punta Gorda, Greater Orlando, and Jacksonville metropolitan areas in Florida, the Brunswick and Savannah metropolitan areas in Georgia, the Charleston and Myrtle Beach metropolitan areas in South Carolina, the Cape Fear and New Bern metropolitan areas in North Carolina, and the Hampton Roads and Winchester metropolitan areas in Virginia.
The highway's southern terminus is at Punta Gorda, Florida, at an intersection with US 41. Traveling north, US 17 joins up with US 50 in Paris, Virginia, and the northern terminus of US 17 is in downtown Winchester. This is also the point at which the portion of US 50 called the Northwestern Turnpike begins.
Though US 1 is generally considered to be the highway that runs alongside Interstate 95 (I-95), US 17 runs parallel to I-95 for much of its extent and even shares the same physical road for short spans in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Ridgeland, South Carolina. As such, US 17 is out of sequence in the U.S. Highway numbering plan (US 17 would, under the plan, run parallel to and between US 15 and US 19; the U.S. Highway following that path is instead marked US 219).