North Carolina Highway 581 (NC 581) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The highway travels from Goldsboro to Louisburg, connecting various rural communities in between.

Quick Facts Route information, Length ...

North Carolina Highway 581
Route of NC 581 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NCDOT
Length	72.1 mi[1] (116.0 km)
Existed	1933–present
Major junctions
South end	NC 111 in Goldsboro
Major intersections	US 13 / US 117 in Goldsboro US 70 in Goldsboro US 301 in Kirbys Crossing US 264 in Bailey US 64 in Spring Hope
North end	US 401 / NC 39 / NC 56 in Louisburg
Location
Country	United States
State	North Carolina
Counties	Wayne, Wilson, Nash, Franklin
Highway system
North Carolina Highway System Interstate US State Scenic
← NC 561 → US 601

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Established in 1933 as a new primary routing, NC 581 originally traversed from US 264/NC 91 in Bailey, north to US 64/NC 90 in Spring Hope. In 1937, NC 581 was extended south on new primary routing to US 301 near Lucama. By 1941, NC 581 was also extended north on new primary routing to NC 56 in Mapleville.

By 1950, NC 581 extended again on new primary routing south to US 70, then east replacing NC 111, ending at US 70 Business and US 117 Business in downtown Goldsboro. In 1982, NC 581 was extended north from Mapleville, concurrency overlapped with NC 56, to its current northern terminus in Louisburg.^[3]

In 1998, NC 581 was removed from downtown Goldsboro and redirected south along US 13/US 117, from Ash Street to Arrington Bridge Road, then southeast to its current southern terminus with NC 111. In 2008, NC 581 was realigned onto new freeway extension with US 117, removing it from part of Ash Street and overlap with US 13/US 117 Alternate; a year later US 117 would revert to its former route, leaving NC 581 on the new freeway segment.^[4][5]

In 2015, NC 581 was rerouted in Bailey, following along the truck route along Main, Benson and Deans Streets; the one block of Sanford Street became SR 1186 and is restricted to all thru trucks with a load limit exceeding 13,000 pounds (5,900 kg). The justification for the route change was because of the railroad underpass with a 8.6 feet (2.6 m) vertical clearance. Nine crashes, including a school activity bus, happened between May 1, 2008 and April 30, 2013; also, representatives from Carolina and Northwestern Railroad indicated that they would not allow a widening of the underpass.^[6]