U.S. Route 66 | U.S. Route 1 | U.S. Route 6 | U.S. Route 101 | Route 66 | U.S. Route 30 | New Jersey Route 4 | European route E65 | U.S. Route 40 | California State Route 1 | U.S. Route 1 in Maine | Pennsylvania Route 309 | European route E18 | U.S. Route 23 | European route E4 | U.S. Route 9 in New York | U.S. Route 11 | Pennsylvania Route 82 | European route E70 | U.S. Route 90 | U.S. Route 75 | U.S. Route 61 | U.S. Route 60 | Pennsylvania Route 73 | New York State Route 32 | European route E55 | U.S. Route 80 | U.S. Route 71 | U.S. Route 51 | U.S. Route 22 |
At Swan Quarter, it continues at a northwesterly direction; merging with several highways along the way, including US 264, NC 99, NC 32, US 64, NC 308, and NC 461.
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.