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Ncdot applied and was approved to re-route us-70 in october of 2019, and route it along the entirety of wendover avenue and Greensboro and High Point and on the southern portion of nc-68.
besides diverting traffic from the dangerous "preddy Boulevard" (or i-40/historic 85), and removing "historic 85" for good (no more business interstates)
turning all of wendover into highway 70 will more than likely uprate it as one of the main highways thru town and provide even better access to:
-downtown,
-the up and coming Greenway and other developments within town.
-Nc A&T university,
-cone health Hospital/friendly avenue
-another heavy trafficked commerial artery, highway 220 North (Battleground Avenue).
-upcoming Publix distribution center being built further east on highway 70 in McLeansville- link it with the publix stores in Greensboro and Jamestown, by providing one single continuous thruway.
-High Point, Burlington. (yes). traffic in downtown Greensboro or places like Friendly avenue, Battleground Avenue would most likely prefer to take US-70 west directly to High Point or east to Burlington.
I-840 and i-40 can only do so much, as they mostly bypass Greensboro, however the US routes run directly thru it and are what give guidance to those commuting within town.
however, like anything of this nature, i'd imagine there may be some drawbacks to it.
Last edited by highways29and150; 07-25-2020 at 05:17 PM..
Wendover Ave was intended to be an expressway/freeway. Portions of it is between Hill St and Spring Garden with no traffic lights and have on and off ramps. Converting the rest would be a challenge due to the many businesses along Wendover Ave between Spring Garden Street and I-40. Also Portions between Hill Street and the Greensboro city limits on the east side. Fortunately Bryan Blvd didn't turn out like that and is entirely an "expressway/highway" But I could never figure out why Greensboro calls most of its highways "Boulevard". Highway 29 is O'Henry Blvd. I-40 Preddy Blvd. Then Bryan Blvd. There are a few "expressway" and "freeway" designations in Greensboro two of which are along Hwy 421 and Hwy 68 in West Greensboro. It amazing how many highways converge in Greensboro and none of them go downtown lol. But there have definitely been major improvements over the past 15 years or so when it comes to Greensboro's Interstate/Highway infrastructure. Now when you coming into Greensboro it looks like you are coming into a big city.
Wendover Ave was intended to be an expressway/freeway. Portions of it is between Hill St and Spring Garden with no traffic lights and have on and off ramps. Converting the rest would be a challenge due to the many businesses along Wendover Ave between Spring Garden Street and I-40. Also Portions between Hill Street and the Greensboro city limits on the east side. Fortunately Bryan Blvd didn't turn out like that and is entirely an "expressway/highway" But I could never figure out why Greensboro calls most of its highways "Boulevard". Highway 29 is O'Henry Blvd. I-40 Preddy Blvd. Then Bryan Blvd. There are a few "expressway" and "freeway" designations in Greensboro two of which are along Hwy 421 and Hwy 68 in West Greensboro. It amazing how many highways converge in Greensboro and none of them go downtown lol. But there have definitely been major improvements over the past 15 years or so when it comes to Greensboro's Interstate/Highway infrastructure. Now when you coming into Greensboro it looks like you are coming into a big city.
Yet you never would get the impression that Greensboro has 300,000 judging by what you see passing through on the highways. Winston Salem looks bigger than Greensboro driving the length of Salem Parkway through the city...as well when you drive 52 .. especially when driving at night. You could argue that Burlington looks at least similar in size to Greensboro when you drive through on 40/85 at night.
Ncdot applied and was approved to re-route us-70 in october of 2019, and route it along the entirety of wendover avenue and Greensboro and High Point and on the southern portion of nc-68.
however, like anything of this nature, i'd imagine there may be some drawbacks to it.
Yes - definitely some drawbacks IMO. By signing it as a US route, it cements Wendover as an automotive sewer and barrier that divides and devalues all of the neighborhoods it passes through. Here's what I think should be done instead:
1) Route all of the US highways onto the plentiful freeways that already exist. Why would anyone use this new US 70 route as a through route when I-40 exists? Why would anyone follow the circuitous US 220 route through town when you can get on the urban loop? There is no reason for these highways to cut through the heart of the city.
2) Decommissioning the highway routes through town gives the city greater control over those roadways, allowing them to be rebuilt into a form that serves Greensboro residents, rather than through traffic. Things like bike lanes, bus lanes, wider sidewalks, more frequent crossings for pedestrians, etc. - all these would be much more feasible on a road like Battleground, for instance, if it was not a US highway. That brings me to...
3) A better plan for Wendover itself. Wendover is a good crosstown route, and if Greensboro were to invest in and upgrade its bus system, Wendover would be a good candidate for dedicated lanes and a BRT-type service. I would also eliminate the freeway portions of the route and either rebuild them as a surface boulevard, or eliminate some sections altogether (for instance, the section near Friendly Center would be redundant to Green Valley Road). I would also give the same treatment to O'Henry Boulevard (current US 29) - now that I-785 exists, the entire freeway from Summit Avenue to I-40/85 should be demolished and replaced with a surface boulevard.
Yet you never would get the impression that Greensboro has 300,000 judging by what you see passing through on the highways. Winston Salem looks bigger than Greensboro driving the length of Salem Parkway through the city...as well when you drive 52 .. especially when driving at night. You could argue that Burlington looks at least similar in size to Greensboro when you drive through on 40/85 at night.
I disagree, Greensboro has a very impressive looking freeway system that at one end is surrounded by a pretty large airport, and many large headquarters, when you first approach from kernersville, you already get the feeling that you are entering a large metropolitan area, very wide freeways and fly over ramps, signs that say Greensboro next (15 enterchanges) impressive high end car dealerships like Range Rover, Land Rover and jaguar that line the freeway heading toward the coliseum area/four seasons, this is why Ferrari,Aston,Maserati,Porsche and now Mclaren moved out along the highway, more visibility and wanting to build up an exclusive area, it also looks damn impressive at night, this is why Audi and Vw left Wendover, And why Audi built one of their exclusive flagship dealerships along the highway next to FCI, same for Carvana building their car tower for all the passerby’s to see, the highway has many fly overs and snakes through the heart of Greensboro, you can immediately tell it’s a city over 300k people, the volume of traffic also increases that illusion, I’ve heard many people say they were impressed by that alone.
But this US 70 thing sure is interesting, always wondered why the highway like portion of Wendover had zero traffic lights and on and off ramps aswell as freeway like signs.
But freeways in Greensboro remind me of freeways I’ve seen in much larger cities I’ve visited, like Houston, Atlanta or DC.
Yet you never would get the impression that Greensboro has 300,000 judging by what you see passing through on the highways. Winston Salem looks bigger than Greensboro driving the length of Salem Parkway through the city...as well when you drive 52 .. especially when driving at night. You could argue that Burlington looks at least similar in size to Greensboro when you drive through on 40/85 at night.
Quote:
Originally Posted by YinXyang
I disagree, Greensboro has a very impressive looking freeway system that at one end is surrounded by a pretty large airport, and many large headquarters, when you first approach from kernersville, you already get the feeling that you are entering a large metropolitan area, very wide freeways and fly over ramps, signs that say Greensboro next (15 enterchanges) impressive high end car dealerships like Range Rover, Land Rover and jaguar that line the freeway heading toward the coliseum area/four seasons, this is why Ferrari,Aston,Maserati,Porsche and now Mclaren moved out along the highway, more visibility and wanting to build up an exclusive area, it also looks damn impressive at night, this is why Audi and Vw left Wendover, And why Audi built one of their exclusive flagship dealerships along the highway next to FCI, same for Carvana building their car tower for all the passerby’s to see, the highway has many fly overs and snakes through the heart of Greensboro, you can immediately tell it’s a city over 300k people, the volume of traffic also increases that illusion, I’ve heard many people say they were impressed by that alone.
But this US 70 thing sure is interesting, always wondered why the highway like portion of Wendover had zero traffic lights and on and off ramps aswell as freeway like signs.
But freeways in Greensboro remind me of freeways I’ve seen in much larger cities I’ve visited, like Houston, Atlanta or DC.
If you’re driving on 40, Greensboro looks and feels like a respectable sized city.
If you’re going on 85 or 73, Greensboro would feel much more rural since those highways skirt around town (95 in Fayetteville is like this too). You would never know that you’re going though a ~300K Municipality just by driving those sections.
I’m in Durham, and there’s a couple of things that you don’t see as much on highways in the Triangle as you would the Triad or Charlotte
Not as many tall signs for businesses along the interstate in the Triangle
No Electronic Billboards; Billboards along 40 are scarce in general.
DOT has been getting better at this, but there’s not as much lighting on the actual highways. Then again, 85 didn’t have much there, either.
Much of the roadside businesses in the Triangle are hidden by trees; you don’t have as many “Service Roads” or roads that front the main interstates.
I-85 through Alamance feels like I-85 through Cabarrus (with the exception of the Concord Mills exit)
Last edited by Renownedtheworldaround; 07-27-2020 at 04:44 AM..
My favorite view of downtown Greensboro is coming thru wendover on ur way to sumit Avenue. I like where u can look to the side and see midtown all lit up.. especially around the movie theater aera. AlsoThey are improving and adding side walks to my part of the town, as you're going to pisgah church towards Lee's chapel.. I really wish they would do that to the sumit ave side. It would be some much needed street scaping!!!
My favorite view of downtown Greensboro is coming thru wendover on ur way to sumit Avenue. I like where u can look to the side and see midtown all lit up.. especially around the movie theater aera. AlsoThey are improving and adding side walks to my part of the town, as you're going to pisgah church towards Lee's chapel.. I really wish they would do that to the sumit ave side. It would be some much needed street scaping!!!
Yea... guess theres nothing they could do to enhance the view of downtown on 40 now .. it almost feels like the downtown is hidden on 40. Like they wanted people that were passing thru to just take a chance and take one or the downtown exits and go see what Greensboro downtown was all about..
Yea... guess theres nothing they could do to enhance the view of downtown on 40 now .. it almost feels like the downtown is hidden on 40. Like they wanted people that were passing thru to just take a chance and take one or the downtown exits and go see what Greensboro downtown was all about..
Topography is part of the issue - I-40 parallels Buffalo Creek on basically the entirety of its route through town, so the road is down in a valley.
The best solution - build taller buildings downtown
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.. it almost feels like the downtown is hidden on 40. Like they wanted people that were passing thru to just take a chance and take one or the downtown exits and go see what Greensboro downtown was all about..
