Fort Mill. Near the North Carolina state line, US 21 merges with I-77 near Carowinds, then enters North Carolina. North Carolina US 21 begins as a concurrency with I-77 in Charlotte, which it repeats three times within the state. Its first break with I-77 is along Statesville Avenue, then proceeding through Huntersville and Cornelius, however, because of its close proximity to I-77 and North Carolina Highway 115 (NC 115), it has no interchange with I-485 by itself. The second break with I-77 occurs at Mooresville, where US 21 travels through the city and then northwest into Statesville. After Statesville, US 21 travels northeast to Harmony and Brooks Crossroads, before merging back with I-77 near Jonesville. However, Jonesville and Elkin connect with Business Hwy 21 thru centers of both towns, as an alternate route paralleling I-77. North of Elkin, US 21 splits with I-77 for the last time and goes north to Sparta, passing the Blue Ridge Parkway after a major, curvy section. North of Sparta, at Twin Oaks, US 221 overlaps with US 21 before entering Virginia. US 21 travels through the western Piedmont of North Carolina, either combined with I-77 or as a two-lane rural road; from the South Carolina state line to Elkin, travelers can easily skip a majority of US 21 via I-77. Virginia After a few miles crossing the state line, US 21 reaches the town of Independence, where it splits with US 221 and continues north. The route goes through the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area before entering the city of Wytheville. After a short concurrency with US 11 in downtown Wytheville, it goes north and ends at the intersection of I-81/US 52. US 21 travels through western Virginia, mostly as a two-lane rural mountain road. History US 21 in the pre-Interstate era was a north–south highway connecting the area around Lake Erie and the coastal South. One of the few true north–south routes to cross the middle Appalachian Mountains, it became an important corridor for motor traffic between northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, (with US 19) and western New York state with central North Carolina, central and southeastern South Carolina, and (by connecting with other highways) coastal Georgia and most of Florida. Many referred to the stretch of Hwy 21 from the Great Lakes Region to Florida as "The Lakes-to-Florida Highway". US 21 originally (in 1926) connected Cleveland, Ohio, and Yemassee, South Carolina. In 1935