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Greensboro Urban Loop (Painter Boulevard)

Roadgeek

By Roadgeek
in The NC Triad

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jasoniman24 Whistle-Stop

jasoniman24

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I feel that the 'death valley' should have been reconstructed. This especially made sense one I-40 was widened to 6-8 lanes a few years back. A whole new loop from just south of the Airport to Mt Hope Church because of a 3-4 mile segement no one wanted to fix. You could take it further and say that if they would have made a connection from I-85s/I-40w to US 29n/US 70e and US 29s/US 70w to I-85n/I-40e that would have eliminated alot of the need for a loop between US 29 to I-85/40

It still should be reconstructed, the Elm-Eugene interchange should be rebuilt into a S.P.U.I. (Single point urban interchange) similar to the Gallimore Dairy Rd exit. There also needs to be more than one exit lane for US 29 North from Bus85/ I-40 east. Besides, some of those bridges that go over MLK/US 421 are looking pretty ancient.

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cityboi Metropolitan Area

cityboi

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It still should be reconstructed, the Elm-Eugene interchange should be rebuilt into a S.P.U.I. (Single point urban interchange) similar to the Gallimore Dairy Rd exit. There also needs to be more than one exit lane for US 29 North from Bus85/ I-40 east. Besides, some of those bridges that go over MLK/US 421 are looking pretty ancient.

Plus if you are not familar with Greensboro, getting on to Randleman road can be confusing if you are going east on 40 at the 85/40 merge. If you are not careful you can miss the exit. The whole interchange needs to be redesigned.

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blburton Whistle-Stop

blburton

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Excellent point GSO27. Someone mentioned that the loop was "too close" to downtown Greensboro. In my opinion, this limits sprawl and at least puts some credibility behing it being an "urban loop" as opposed to an "outer belt". Don't forget that over half of the loop is being built through developed areas or the city limits or will be bounded by Lake Brandt. Look at I-540 in Raleigh or I-485 in Charlotte. North/Northeast Raleigh and South/Southeast Charlotte were trees and farms 15-20 years ago as both loops were built well outside of the city limits. The outerloop in both cities is 20-30 minutes from downtown in some cases and has only provided for gross extensions of suburban sprawl... traffic... soccer moms and hummers... etc. I-540, if completed, will encircle Raleigh, as well as Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Morrisville, and Garner: Wake County's 6 most populous municipalities!! Look at some of the southern posterchild cities for suburban sprawl... Houston, Atlanta, Dallas.

Look at it this way: If the loop extended all the way out past Lake Jenette to the north and High Point to the south, the route would have encouraged much more sprawl that what might occur now in controlled areas.
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blburton Whistle-Stop

blburton

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I say that whole MLK/421/29 interchange should be completely reconstructed to allow unimpeded traffic flow from 29 to 421 to Bus 85/40 in all directions even if it means the destruction of a few gas stations and fast food restaurants in that area. In other words... NO STOPLIGHTS!!

It still should be reconstructed, the Elm-Eugene interchange should be rebuilt into a S.P.U.I. (Single point urban interchange) similar to the Gallimore Dairy Rd exit. There also needs to be more than one exit lane for US 29 North from Bus85/ I-40 east. Besides, some of those bridges that go over MLK/US 421 are looking pretty ancient.
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cityboi Metropolitan Area

cityboi

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Excellent point GSO27. Someone mentioned that the loop was "too close" to downtown Greensboro. In my opinion, this limits sprawl and at least puts some credibility behing it being an "urban loop" as opposed to an "outer belt". Don't forget that over half of the loop is being built through developed areas or the city limits or will be bounded by Lake Brandt. Look at I-540 in Raleigh or I-485 in Charlotte. North/Northeast Raleigh and South/Southeast Charlotte were trees and farms 15-20 years ago as both loops were built well outside of the city limits. The outerloop in both cities is 20-30 minutes from downtown in some cases and has only provided for gross extensions of suburban sprawl... traffic... soccer moms and hummers... etc. I-540, if completed, will encircle Raleigh, as well as Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Morrisville, and Garner: Wake County's 6 most populous municipalities!! Look at some of the southern posterchild cities for suburban sprawl... Houston, Atlanta, Dallas.

That is one way to look at it. Greensboro's outer loop is really more of an inner loop becase of its closeness to the inner core area of the city. Its not waaaay outside of Greensboro like the 840 loop around Nashville and is smaller than Charlotte's and Raleigh's outer belt.

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JerseyBoy Burg

JerseyBoy

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I say that whole MLK/421/29 interchange should be completely reconstructed to allow unimpeded traffic flow from 29 to 421 to Bus 85/40 in all directions even if it means the destruction of a few gas stations and fast food restaurants in that area. In other words... NO STOPLIGHTS!!

My thoughts have always been to destroy a good portion of those fast food restaurants and extend US 29/421 directly south to the new I-85 bypass.

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cityboi Metropolitan Area

cityboi

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The twin bridges will be on the I-840/I-73 section in west Greensboro near the airport (over Firendly Ave). They will have a total legnth of 310 feet. The beams are 150 tons. The weight of the bolts and nuts and washers are 200,000 lbs and the cost of the bridge is $4.3 million. They will be the longest single span bridges in NC surpassing the 274 foot bridge across Eno River near Durham. Thats section of I-840 will be 8 lanes. Ive noticed that engineers have done a great job with the design and layout of interchanges along the loop. There are beautiful long curving bridges at the complex I-40 interchange in west Greensboro where there are bridges going over other bridges. At the I-85 interchange there are two very long curving bridges one of wich is pretty tall and very massive. Im glad to see that engineers are not only making interchanges practical but they are very well designed unlike the the interchanges at death valley along old I-85. Certainly the loop is one of the best designed highway projects in the state.

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...C0101/303110002

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Bosox28 Unincorporated Area

Bosox28

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construction of northeastern loop (I-840/I-785) is set for construction in 2011.

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...C0101/703120302

wow...looks like the section from lawndale to bryan wont be done for about 10 years!! Brutal. getting from lawndale to bryan and then to head west is such a pain...seems like the best way to go is take lawndale to martinsville and follow that to holden..any other faster suggestions? I've tried new garden but the lights take forever!

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cityboi Metropolitan Area

cityboi

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wow...looks like the section from lawndale to bryan wont be done for about 10 years!! Brutal. getting from lawndale to bryan and then to head west is such a pain...seems like the best way to go is take lawndale to martinsville and follow that to holden..any other faster suggestions? I've tried new garden but the lights take forever!

I guess it seems like a more important section to open. im not sure why the northeaster section is priority. but it will help reduce traffic along US highway 29 in the downtown area.

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ezcheese Hamlet

ezcheese

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wow...looks like the section from lawndale to bryan wont be done for about 10 years!! Brutal. getting from lawndale to bryan and then to head west is such a pain...seems like the best way to go is take lawndale to martinsville and follow that to holden..any other faster suggestions? I've tried new garden but the lights take forever!

depending on where you're starting from on lawndale, you could do lawndale to cone to bryan, or if you're farther north, lawndale to pisgah church to westridge and onto bryan... assuming you mean to head west on the interstate.

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Bosox28 Unincorporated Area

Bosox28

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depending on where you're starting from on lawndale, you could do lawndale to cone to bryan, or if you're farther north, lawndale to pisgah church to westridge and onto bryan... assuming you mean to head west on the interstate.

yeah, i go that way alot...making the left onto westridge kills me though <_<

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ezcheese Hamlet

ezcheese

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oh yeah. i live a little north of westridge on battleground, so i never turn left onto westridge from battleground. i forgot how backed up that gets. between waiting for that left turn and the extra time it takes to get to the intersection of bryan and new garden, it's probably still a little quicker to do westridge.

that sucks, i know several shortcuts to get over west, but they all start from north of westridge.

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