North Carolina Highway 12

North Carolina Highway 12 (NC 12) is a state highway that traverses the northeastern coastline of North Carolina, linking the peninsulas and islands of the northern Outer Banks. Most sections of NC 12 are two lanes wide, and there are also two ferry routes which maintain continuity of the route as it traverses the Outer Banks region. NC 12 is part of the Outer Banks Scenic Byway one of the National Scenic Byways. The first NC 12 appeared on the 1924 North Carolina Official Map and at its height ran from NC 30 in Pollocksville to NC 48 near Murfreesboro. Overtime it was replaced by both US 258 and NC 58 and ceased to exist in 1958. The current NC 12 first appeared on the 1964 state highway map running from US 158 in Nags Head to Ocracoke. In 1976 NC 12 was extended to US 70 on the mainland and in 1987 was extended north to Corolla.

Route description

North Carolina Highway 12 begins at US 70 at the unincorporated community of Sea Level. From there NC 12 travels Northeast along Cedar Island Road to Cedar Island. Once the road enters Cedar Island it turns northwest running along the Cedar Bay all the way to the Cedar Island-Ocracoke ferry. After arriving at Ocracoke the road immediately runs along the western side of Silver Lake in the eastern side of the town. After leaving Ocracoke NC 12 enters the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. NC 12 runs along the middle of the island all the way until it reaches the Cape Hatteras-Ocracoke Ferry in Point Beach.

North Carolina's 12th congressional district

North Carolina's 12th congressional district is located in central North Carolina and comprises portions of Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Lexington, Salisbury, Concord, and High Point. It was one of two minority-majority Congressional districts created in the state in the 1990s. Since the 2000 census, it has had a small plurality of whites, though blacks make up a majority of its voting population.

North Carolina earlier had a twelfth seat in the House in the nineteenth century and in the mid-twentieth century (1943-1963).

Current district

The district was re-established after the 1990 United States Census, when North Carolina gained a House seat due to an increase in population. It was drawn in 1992 as one of two black majority (minority-majority) districts, designed to give blacks (who comprised 22% of the state's population at the time) the chance to elect a representative of their choice under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibited dilution of voting power of minorities. In its original configuration, this was a 64 percent black-majority district stretching from Gastonia to Durham. It was very long and so thin at some points that it was no wider than a highway lane, as it followed Interstate 85 almost exactly.