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High Point Road (Greensboro)


StevenRocks

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To me, you can't get anymore crazy than US-29. I'm on it twice a day. The problem is with the stretch north of Summit (The one near Carolina Circle, not the one near Bryan Park). It was built a very very very long time ago back when Greensboro was way smaller and people didn't believe in the art of road rage. It's the 21st century now! That road is not built to today's standards. The heavy duty resurface project back in 1999 only extended turn/exit lanes, put in new medians, and repaved the road. One of two things need to be done:

1. Build a bypass around it (or move US-29 onto Painter).

2. Completely rebuild the stretch.

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I spoke with one Greensboro resident and i was told that Wendover Ave was suppose to be part of a beltway system and went on saying that the urban planning in Greensboro from the last 20-30 years was horrendous claiming that this is the reason Greensboro roads are confusing with major traffic congestion [i beg to differ on the traffic comment]! The Lovett-Aycock-Lawndale route is very NJ-like starting out as a neighborhood street then a primary two lane residential street, a residential four lane boulevard then catering to big box stores as a regular boulevard past Battleground. I wonder if this street was part of the failure of urban planning for the city?

Greensboro to me does not have bad traffic, yet i will admit that the city roads do not make sense sometimes. With any place you live in, you learn it and you find it easy after a while. Just giving out directions may not be so easy B)

True Wendover was origionally planned to become a freeway but obviusly that didnt happen you can see evidence that it was to be a freeway on a very large segmant of Wendover between Spring Garden and Hill Street. Its like an expressway on that segment with multi-lanes and no stop light intersection, only over passes and under passes. It almost didnt even get built. The bill passed by one vote. But Holden Road actually looks more like a beltway system because it kinda forms a semi loop around Greensboro sort of the way Peters Creek Prwy in Winston-Salem does. Its not a highway but its a major thourghfare.

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To me, you can't get anymore crazy than US-29. I'm on it twice a day. The problem is with the stretch north of Summit (The one near Carolina Circle, not the one near Bryan Park). It was built a very very very long time ago back when Greensboro was way smaller and people didn't believe in the art of road rage. It's the 21st century now! That road is not built to today's standards. The heavy duty resurface project back in 1999 only extended turn/exit lanes, put in new medians, and repaved the road. One of two things need to be done:

1. Build a bypass around it (or move US-29 onto Painter).

2. Completely rebuild the stretch.

I think a big reason why I-785 is being planned to follow the loop instead of Highway 29 through the city and near downtown is because of the cost and diffculty in upgrading the route to interstate standards within the city. The lanes would need to be a littel wider including more shoulder space. Thats kinda difficult becasue the current shoulders butts up against service roads and people's homes on some areas of Hwy 29 near downtown. Its really impossible to add more shoulder space on some portions of that segment and there are a few areas where there are no shoulders at all. Just a gaurd rail separating highway 29 from the service road. But once you are in the north part of the city near Carolina Circle Mall and on up north to Danville Virginia. That segment of hwy 29 can be converted to interstate standards. There would also need to be major changes for the on and off ramps because some exiting ramps are so short, you almost have to slam on breaks before turning off on another road! The Phillips Ave interchange over highway 29 would also have to be redesigned because there arent enough exit point onto 29 from Phillips Ave. I'm not sure if they could really do it because the WFMY News 2 tv station is right there at that intersection. Despite the fact that I-785 will follow the loop, people coming from Washington headed towards Atlanta would still to highway 29 through Greensboro as opposed to following the loop because the distance around the loop is great. Its alot qicker to just take 29 through the city. and hit I-85 from there.

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What's the deal with the Howard Johnson's on High Point Rd? I noticed they removed the signage, and placed a banner on the building stating "all rooms $39.95". If it has been sold, I wonder what the new name of this hotel will be. I hope it doesn't become something like the Cavalier Inn or the old Southgate Motor Inn on Randleman Rd.

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What's the deal with the Howard Johnson's on High Point Rd? I noticed they removed the signage, and placed a banner on the building stating "all rooms $39.95". If it has been sold, I wonder what the new name of this hotel will be. I hope it doesn't become something like the Cavalier Inn or the old Southgate Motor Inn on Randleman Rd.

Impossible. A hotel that size and a hotel that fancy (Although I've never been inside it) would not end up as dumpy as those dumby Randlman Rd joints.

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What's the deal with the Howard Johnson's on High Point Rd? I noticed they removed the signage, and placed a banner on the building stating "all rooms $39.95". If it has been sold, I wonder what the new name of this hotel will be. I hope it doesn't become something like the Cavalier Inn or the old Southgate Motor Inn on Randleman Rd.

I had assumed they went out of business. Guess not.

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The Lovett-Aycock-Lawndale route is very NJ-like starting out as a neighborhood street then a primary two lane residential street, a residential four lane boulevard then catering to big box stores as a regular boulevard past Battleground. I wonder if this street was part of the failure of urban planning for the city?

Well Battleground north is Hwy 220...I imagine that at one time it all made sense, especially how it might have connected south of downtown to the other part of 220 going south...as true battleground goes into downtown...Westover Terrace and Aycock are just side streets off of it somehow....

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1. Build a bypass around it (or move US-29 onto Painter).

2. Completely rebuild the stretch.

I dont think that they would totally abandon hwy 29. There is a office/industrial park right off of the highway on the summit ave exit north of town. Proctor and Gamble, a jewel in Greensboro's crown has a plant off that exit as do many other good solid long living businesses. There also is the fact that 29 is a major route for getting to A & T, UNCG, Greensboro College, Bennet College as well as to downtown. I thought the idea was for them to upgrade it to interstate travel for those direct routes South to the beach ....and that they were not done yet. (could be wrong)
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True Wendover was origionally planned to become a freeway but obviusly that didnt happen
It is however old US 70. You can take it East on to Mebane, Hillsborough and if not mistaken...on over to Durham as well(somewhere it joins up with 85 as it becomes a part of that major road that leads on to the Eastern part of the state)....Its an older type highway....from another era in time...the way things used to be done..

Impossible. A hotel that size and a hotel that fancy (Although I've never been inside it) would not end up as dumpy as those dumby Randlman Rd joints.

My guess is that the same things were said about Randleman Rd's hotels once ..... Every dog has it's day... That hotel has been an eye sore for a long time....Hotels of today are different and of a different quality than those of 30 yrs ago...

Where's Koury Corporation when you need them?

Well they are certainly not @ 4 seasons mall anymore unfortunately....

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It's gotten so that I can almost feel that mall fading into obscurity. Koury ran the mall better than GGP ever has.

Yeah, the mall is sorta going down hill. I was on some website earlier about when television shows "Jumped the Shark". That means the episode that made the show go downhill. I feel that Four Seasons in a way "Jumped the Shark" somehow. Like what Steven said about GGP handling the mall. Another possible shark jump could have been the late 90's renovation. Ever since then, the mall has become pretty trendy and upscale. There are probably a few other FSM shark jumps.

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Another possible shark jump could have been the late 90's renovation. Ever since then, the mall has become pretty trendy and upscale.

Trust me, roadgeek. Four Seasons needed the last renovation. It's always been trendy and upscale and the 1987 renovation was wearing pretty thin. Actually it was becoming laughable.

I had some fellow architect friends come with me to Four Seasons before the last renovation and then after, and they all noted how the place had changed design-wise for the better overall.

All three looks they've had over the years have been pretty trendy. 1974 version was very '70s, 1987 version was very '80s, 1999 version was very '90s. I'm imagining that the (say 2007-2009) version will be very '00s.

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  • 1 year later...

Planning is in the works for HP Rd. revitalization!! A meeting for public input is scheduled for January of 2007. Since the last post on this topic was over one year ago, have your thoughts changed about what you'd like to see done to HP Rd? Do the newbies have any suggestions? I definitely agree that HP Rd. is the first impression that outsiders who come to the coliseum get of Greensboro and it could be flawed.... one of my friends thought the Lee St. corridor from UNCG east to old 85/40 was what the city was like all over b/c that was all she knew.

If done right, this area could turn into an area like Lennox Square Mall in Atlanta (on a smaller scale of course) where the I-40 HP Rd. interchange is the retail, entertainment, and residential center of the strip. Remember that there are plans for a new large shopping area immediately across the street from the mall at the corner of HP and Pembroke. Some of the shopping centers and old big boxes down to Sedgefield should be torn down and replaced with an assortment of apartments, live/work units, condos, libraries, grocery stores, different forms of entertainment (sports bars, upscale, younger crowds, all purpose (dave & busters or jillians type), putt putt :)), and more hotels that incorporate existing businesses on HP Road. For example, there is a shopping center with a freestanding $2 or $3 theater down towards Sedgefield that could be incorporated into a new, more modern shopping center or residential component if the old shopping center were demolished. One thing to also consider is that within the next 5 years, HP Rd. south of Groometown Rd. will be widened and relocated to eventually include an interchange at Painter Blvd which will bring growth in and of itself.

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Planning is in the works for HP Rd. revitalization!! A meeting for public input is scheduled for January of 2007. Since the last post on this topic was over one year ago, have your thoughts changed about what you'd like to see done to HP Rd? Do the newbies have any suggestions? I definitely agree that HP Rd. is the first impression that outsiders who come to the coliseum get of Greensboro and it could be flawed.... one of my friends thought the Lee St. corridor from UNCG east to old 85/40 was what the city was like all over b/c that was all she knew.

If done right, this area could turn into an area like Lennox Square Mall in Atlanta (on a smaller scale of course) where the I-40 HP Rd. interchange is the retail, entertainment, and residential center of the strip. Remember that there are plans for a new large shopping area immediately across the street from the mall at the corner of HP and Pembroke. Some of the shopping centers and old big boxes down to Sedgefield should be torn down and replaced with an assortment of apartments, live/work units, condos, libraries, grocery stores, different forms of entertainment (sports bars, upscale, younger crowds, all purpose (dave & busters or jillians type), putt putt :)), and more hotels that incorporate existing businesses on HP Road. For example, there is a shopping center with a freestanding $2 or $3 theater down towards Sedgefield that could be incorporated into a new, more modern shopping center or residential component if the old shopping center were demolished. One thing to also consider is that within the next 5 years, HP Rd. south of Groometown Rd. will be widened and relocated to eventually include an interchange at Painter Blvd which will bring growth in and of itself.

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