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this is one of those tired old Greensboro and Winston comparisons, but, i think its time to compare
and contrast the highway and road system in both towns,
this is one of those tired old Greensboro and Winston comparisons, but, i think its time to compare
and contrast the highway and road system in both towns,
ultimately, which city is overall easier and safer to navigate thru?
Greensboro wins in all categories. If anything some say the transportation infrastructure is over built which is a good thing.
Winston-Salem is starting to make some progress with the northern beltway, a section of highway 52 near downtown and Winston-Salem State University. Salem Parkway looks nice but I wish there were a way to expand the number of lanes to help with congestion downtown. Im not a fan of the Hwy 52/ Salem Parkway interchange. It can be accident prone.
Okay, just my honest opinions here, and not trying to step on anyone's toes.
Winston-Salem feels very divided by US 52 (both physically and socio-economically) and Business 40 (now Salem Parkway). I know Salem Parkway was a huge undertaking and that's improving the feel of having such a major roadway cut through the middle of downtown, so that feel is certainly better than it was. As to the arches across 52, pretty as they are (and I do support public art as part of the infrastructure), I have to wonder if the expensive price tag on those couldn't have been used for a more functional infrastructural improvement, such as a pedestrian bridge with impressive public art integrated into it, or visually appealing bus stop shelters, or something like that. It feels very much like someone's pet project to be honest.
Greensboro's downtown doesn't have the same divided feel as Winston Salem's which is to Greensboro's benefit. Its worst roads are US 29, which is scary with little to no shoulders and short merge areas and it feels outdated and runs through the one of the city's more economically disadvantaged areas, although I do have to give credit to Greensboro for sprucing up other corridors in more challenged areas, such as Freeman Mill Road. Another problem area (to me) is along West Wendover near I-40, with acceleration/deceleration lanes that seem to appear and disappear at random.
I agree that Greensboro has much more road capacity than Winston-Salem, which is why it seems to feel a little less congested, but the new I-85/85 business/I-40/Painter Boulevard/I-840, and what road is where, is probably even more confusing to people who have lived in the area a while and everything gets moved around so differently. West Gate City Boulevard (formerly High Point Road) is a smaller scale road with that same issue if you're traveling from Greensboro to High Point. It used to be a straight shot and now there are all these multiple turns, and the weird (probably a good idea from an engineering standpoint for traffic flow though) diverging diamond at I-73, where it feels as if you're driving on the wrong side of the road before weaving back over. It's just not a straightforward road anymore.
Painter Boulevard (I-840) does finally offer an interstate connection to northwest/north Greensboro, which used to only be accessible to everywhere else in the city through a long circuit of surface streets with numerous traffic lights, and used to feel so much more inconvenient to get to places in the Triad outside of Greensboro (i.e. places like High Point, Winston-Salem, Asheboro, Burlington, etc.) except heading toward Rockingham County and Virginia.
Greensboro's downtown doesn't have the same divided feel as Winston Salem's which is to Greensboro's benefit. Its worst roads are US 29, which is scary with little to no shoulders and short merge areas and it feels outdated and runs through the one of the city's more economically disadvantaged areas, although I do have to give credit to Greensboro for sprucing up other corridors in more challenged areas, such as Freeman Mill Road.
IIRC, NCDOT did a study back in the 90's on upgrading US-29 to interstate standards as part of the future I-785 corridor, but they decided against the upgrade because of the potential impacts in the area, so they tossed I-785 onto the urban loop and called it a day.
IIRC, NCDOT did a study back in the 90's on upgrading US-29 to interstate standards as part of the future I-785 corridor, but they decided against the upgrade because of the potential impacts in the area, so they tossed I-785 onto the urban loop and called it a day.
Plus it would have been too expensive to upgrade hwy 29. A number of bridges would have to be rebuilt. It would have also been difficult to upgrade exit and on ramps to interstate standards and the shoulders would not have been wide enough.
was planned by DOT as far back as the 60's and once built, would link Freeman Mill Rd and Battleground Avenue directly via an expressway, which would travel thru the town and would have been signed as a new and separate highway 220, (in contrast to its concurrency with I-40/US 29) but
due to protests from residential community in its path, and plans for a new greenway, by 2001 Greensboro turned against it. parts of it still exist: Murrow Blvd /Fisher Ave/Smith st.
that's how the decision to put I-73 on the western loop came about.
Last edited by highways29and150; 09-02-2020 at 08:08 PM..
was planned by DOT as far back as the 60's and once built, would link Freeman Mill Rd and Battleground Avenue directly via an expressway, which would travel thru the town and would have been signed as a new and separate highway 220, (in contrast to its concurrency with I-40/US 29) but
due to protests from residential community in its path, and plans for a new greenway, by 2001 Greensboro turned against it. parts of it still exist: Murrow Blvd /Fisher Ave/Smith st.
that's how the decision to put I-73 on the western loop came about.
There doesn't seem to be a smooth traffic flow the way the highway merges on parts of I-73 in Greensboro. For example. I-73 merges with I-85 via exit ramp instead of a multi lane flyover ramp. Very similar to where I-73 meets Bryan Blvd. Its very odd. I've never seen an interstate that merges with another interstate by a typical single lane cloverleaf exit ramp. At some point that interchange needs to be reconfigured. It needs to be more like the I-73/I-40/I-840 interchange in west Greensboro. Its like a break on I-73, you get off on an exit ramp and you're back on I-73. Another gripe I have is that there is no Greensboro City Limit sign coming into Greensboro on I-85 from the south. They removed it over a decade ago for some highway construction work and never put it back. I'd love to city a more welcoming city limits sign that says Welcome to Greensboro or something.
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