US route endpoints in
Wilmington, NC

But in 1929 the first bridge was built: the Parsley Street Bridge was located in essentially the same place as the current Isabel Holmes Bridge.  US 17 traffic was directed to use the new bridge (instead of the ferry), and by 1930 3rd Street (instead of 4th) had become the main highway route between downtown and the bridge.  At that time, US 17-1 could have been truncated to its junction with US 17 on North 3rd, but the designation was likely overlapped with US 17 south on 3rd, ending at Market.  ​This photo was looking north on 3rd:

Then in 1934, US 17 was changed to its current route, eliminating the segment of US 117 that continued into South Carolina.  So US 117 was truncated at the bridge junction, and instead extended south on 3rd to end at Market.  Also in 1934 the US 74 designation was extended east from Chadbourn, ending in Wilmington (also at 3rd and Market).  However, neither US 74 nor US 117 ever shared that endpoint with US 421, because that was the same year that US 421 was extended south from Wilmington.  But that was the southern terminus of US 74 until 1938, and the south end of US 117 until 1969:

​The "End" sign shown above is gone now, and of US 117 no longer runs through that junction, because its south end was rerouted in 2002; the old route is now signed simply as NC hwy 133.  Instead, US 117 is now extended southeast from Castle Hayne via NC hwy. 132 (College Road).  At Shipyard Boulevard the designation heads west.  The last southbound marker is just past the junction with US 421 (Carolina Beach Road):