North Carolina Highway 16 (NC 16) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It runs from NC 75, in Waxhaw, to the Virginia state line, near the community of Grassy Creek.

Starting in the heart of Waxhaw, NC 16 goes north through Weddington and into Charlotte as Providence Road. In Uptown Charlotte, NC 16 briefly overlaps 3rd Street, then merges with I-277, goes north around Uptown and then exits the city in a northwest direction as Brookshire Boulevard (Note - Southbound travelers exiting I-277 (exit 2A) must make a u-turn at the end of the exit ramp to the left, then take another left onto 3rd Street, to stay on NC 16).

After passing the Catawba River, NC 16 becomes a rural freeway through Gaston, Lincoln, and most of Catawba counties (currently an 8.5-mile (13.7 km) gap between freeway's end and Newton). After passing Conover, NC 16 become a two-lane rural road through Alexander and Wilkes counties (with exception in Wilkesboro).

Entering Ashe County, it connects with the Blue Ridge Parkway and then travels, on a somewhat curvy-road, to Jefferson. From Jefferson, it goes north, as a relatively straight mountain road, into the Commonwealth of Virginia near Grassy Creek. Though changed as Virginia State Route 16, it continues through the state then entering West Virginia as West Virginia Route 16, ending in St. Marys, West Virginia (a three-state grand total of 474.3 miles (763.3 km)).

On Thursday, July 30, 2009 The four-lane divided NC16 opened to traffic to Optimist Club Rd. in the Triangle community, south of Denver in eastern Lincoln County, with the next section to open in October, 2009 which will extend to St. James Church Rd. just west of Denver, NC in eastern Lincoln County, NC. Northbound drivers on NC16 will need to exit at St. James Church Rd. and travel east app. 1 mile to intersect with present-day NC16 and then turn left to continue north on NC16 toward Conover, NC.

NC 16 is expected to be rerouted onto a new bypass route in northwestern Mecklenburg, eastern Gaston, eastern Lincoln, and southeastern Catawba counties. When completed, this will become the second limited-access stretch of NC 16 (as such, I-277 shares part of the one existing portion). The new bypass is expected to be completed by 2010. In 2008, widening began on the fast-growing part of the road in Union County, which consists of the southernmost part of the highway. The road will be widened from I-485 to Rea RD, south of Weddington. Construction of a new 4-lane "Superstreet" design portion of NC 16 is underway starting in Conover at the Wal-Mart at I-40 and will end in Charlotte.

Since 1990, NC 16 has had two business loops: