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Greensboro Urban Loop (Painter Boulevard)


Roadgeek

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I know I've been hanging around the ccm topics, but I need to tickle my roadgeek gene a little on the information super highway. Does anyone have any updates on the Greensboro Urban Loop? I know that the rest of the southern part will be finnished in 2007 and my favorite road will migrate onto it. Interstate 40! :D

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2 weeks ago, the Greensboro News & Record had an article about the Greensboro Urban Loop. It stated that a few traffic pattern changes will occur either permanently or temporarly. One thing is a new traffic pattern on I-40 east. The newspaper got thrown away so I can't really recall much. Will this cause many problems or changes?

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It will make travel smoother for thru traffic on I-40, but it's going to make the trip around Greensboro take longer from a mileage standpoint.

Also, It's bound to be a little confusing as well, because I think old I-40's going to be green-signed like old I-85, which is going to make giving directions to out-of-towners very fun :rolleyes:

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I can see NW Guilford/SW Rockingham/SE Stokes counties explode with growth once Painter gets through that area. Though this will not help traffic on Battleground but will make getting to PTI, Danville, Durham, High Point and Winston easier taking traffic off existening city roads and US 158.

The ripple effect will be Battleground for commuters going into DT Gboro.

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Even Painter Blvd may not change southeast Greensboro much. That's one of Burlington's watersheds. The developers are probably salivating over the prospects in north county, however.

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a lot of the stretch between western burlington and eastern greensboro along highway 70 is being developed pretty quickly. there is tons of new construction going on all over the place.

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There is already a Shopping Center and hotel planned for the intersection of highway 70 (Wendover) and I-840 on the east side of the Greensboro. So there will be an explosion of growth in the east and northeast. The land near the intersection of the loop and Bryan Blvd is also going to see development. Despite the fact that residents fought off a planned mall in the area back in the 90s, I think we might see another mall proposal near this interchange when its complete. This time I think a mall would be built.

It looks like the interchange where the loop crosses current I-40 is going to be massive. They are currently constructing bridges and soaring ramps that crosses over bridges. It looks like its going to be the kind of interchange that you would see in Charlotte or Atlanta. That segment of I-40 has 10 lanes. The interchange near Grandover is also massive and if you are not careful you may take the wrong exit. Thats how complex its going to be when its totally complete. I saw a map of the loop on a wall and it looks like part of the loop (New I-40/I-73) on the southwest qaudrant will be crossing over a lake near Hester Park.

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It looks like the interchange at the new I-85 bypass (Painter Blvd) and S. Elm-Eugene St is already exploding with growth. There are tons of new homes and a massive shopping center with a new Wal-Mart and Lowes going up on the NW side of the interchange. Also I have noticed the much of the land on the other sides of the interchange is for sale. I think this may be very similar to Wendover /I-40 in a few years. One side note, why don't they call it Painter Frwy instead of Painter Blvd? When I think of a boulevard, High Point Rd or Battleground Ave comes to mind.

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I never could understand why Greensboro calls its freeways boulevards. Highway 29 through Greensboro is called O'Henry Blvd. I-40 through Greensboro is called Fordham Blvd. Then there is Bryan Blvd. Why not call it The Joseph M. Bryan Expressway? Bryan Blvd is highway/expressway standards. There are a few highways in Greensboro that are called expressways. Highway 421 into Greensboro and Highway 68 come to mind.When Wendover Avenue was first planned, it was suppose to be a freeway but for some reason that never happened. However there are parts of Wendover Ave that sprawl through the city that are expressway standards. When Wendover was proposed, it was almost voted down and never built. The Wendover Ave project won by 1 vote. CAn You imagine Greensboro without Wendover Ave today? It would be a traffic nightmare.

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I left Greensboro in 94 and have tried to keep up with developments. Reading things on this site I am anxious to go back and see the growth. I had always wanted this metro to step up and build like it should. My wife used to work at Lab staffers in High Point. We lived on Lawndale Apartments on Battleground Ave and I would take Wendover all the way to High Point when I didnt want to deal with High Point road. I really think people don't give Greensboro the credit due when it comes to amount of development and the urban feel it has. Greensboro has several areas that have a number of mid rises that although are not downtown its still is a compliment to the city as a whole. For example Battleground and Lawndale Dr-Friendly Center-Four Seasons area-Wendover and I-40-Lee street around NCA&T.

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I never could understand why Greensboro calls its freeways boulevards. Highway 29 through Greensboro is called O'Henry Blvd.

Well O'Henry Blvd is an actual road on the north side of 29. It borders the O'Henry Oaks neighborhood on that side of the highway. It is a service road, if you will, but also is a residential road that leads into two parts of that neighborhood.

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  • 5 months later...

http://www.wfmy.com/news/topstory_article.aspx?storyid=55827

I think this is the last section that needs funding. The southeastern leg is complete and construction is underway on the southwest and west loop near Bryan Blvd and the airport. half the loop will be complete with in the next few years. There is a massive "maze like" urban interchange under construction now where the loop crosses I-40 in west Greensboro.

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I think this is the last section that needs funding. The southeastern leg is complete and construction is underway on the southwest and west loop near Bryan Blvd and the airport. half the loop will be complete with in the next few years. There is a massive "maze like" urban interchange under construction now where the loop crosses I-40 in west Greensboro.

I can see the slogan now:

"COMPLETE THE GREENSBORO LOOP!!! OTHERWISE, THERE MAY STILL BE A FEW SECTIONS OF THE CITY OUTSIDE DOWNTOWN THAT AREN'T COVERED WITH SUBURBAN CRAP."

I'm glad to see that Downtown Greensboro is having a bit of a renaissance, but the rest of the city is truly destined to be a continuous sea of garbage because nobody there understands that the remainder of the city developing in a positve way matters, too.

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NE Greensboro is not very developed, infact rural in many areas. The NE quadrant of this beltway to me is the least most important priority and ought to be built last while they should finish the rest of the beltway first (SW/NW quadrants) since they are teh areas that need the beltway more than NE greensboro does. NCDOT/city of Greensboro/etc should go ahead and get the right-of-way for the NE quadrant of the beltway while the land is CHEAP than acquring the land later. Given history, sprawl will eventually occur out there but a beltway will make it happen much quicker.

Of course what will happen is they will build the hgihway and then sprawl attacks the highway instantly.

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We are already seeing some sprawl development at the intersection of South Elm-Eugene St and the south east loop. There is a big Super Salmart and a Lowes Hardware store that just opened along with Bojangles and Cracker Barrel. I doubt will see a whole lot of retail sprawl in the northeast section. Of course there wil be some. There are shopping centers and hotels already proposed for the north east qaudrant but that area will mainly be residential and industrial sites. That segment will be named I-840/I-785. I-785 will be routed on Highway 29 to Danville, VA. It will eventually end in Washington DC.

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What I don't understand is why so much of the highway building in the state seems to go to Greensboro. Greensboro has better highways than Charlotte, a city 2-1/2 to 3 times the size of Greensboro. And, Winston-Salem, a city nearly as big as Greensboro, has been promised a beltway by the state since the 1960s and is only now getting bridges from the 1950s replaced. I'm not a proponent of building more and more highways, and would rather see that money go towards mass transit and instituting urban growth boundaries, but when it comes to highway projects, Greensboro is the last major city in the state in a position to complain to Raleigh.

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It wasnt to long ago when Greensboro had poor interstates. Remember when I-40 use to be two lanes in each direction while Charlotte and Raleigh had 4 and 5 lanes in each direction. Just recently I-40 in Greensboro converted from 2 lanes to 5 lanes in eaxh direction. A big reason while Winston-Salem's beltway proposal stalled was because of a lawsuit that held up its contruction. If it had not been for the lawsuit, part of the Winston-Salem beltway would be open today. Its interesting because Greensboro and Winston-Salem had beltway plans back in the 60s. I wonder if the route from the 60s plan is the same.

But Highway 52 in Winston-Salem should be 4 lanes in each direction. Rush hour traffic is a mess on 52 near downtown.

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