The Greensboro Urban Loop is a partially completed 43.1-mile (69.4 km) beltway around Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. The loop carries I-73, I-85, I-785, I-840, and US 421.
Video Greensboro Urban Loop
Route description
The parts of Urban Loop that are currently open are:
- Eastern loop from US 29 to I-40/I-85 east of downtown, a four-lane freeway. The section between I-40/I-85 and US 70 opened in 2002. The section between US 70 and US 29 is known as STIP Number U-2525B, and was estimated to cost $119 million, with construction beginning in August 2014. Originally slated for completion in December 2018, this section opened a year early on December 6, 2017. This section is also entirely overlapped with and signed as Interstate 785.
- The southern half (signed as I-73 and US 421 on the southwest section, and I-85 and US 421 on the southeast section) which opened in 2004;
- A 6.8-mile (10.9 km) western section of I-840 between I-40 and US 220, which provides better access to the Piedmont Triad International Airport. The section between I-40 and Bryan Boulevard opened in 2008, and is concurrent with I-73. The segment between Bryan Boulevard and US 220 is known as STIP Number U-2524C, and was estimated to cost $101 million, with property acquisition and construction. Construction on this section began in October 2013, and completion of this segment was tentatively scheduled for March 2018. However, the section opened on April 19, 2018, four days ahead of an adjusted schedule.
Land and right-of-way property was bought for the segment between US 220 and Lawndale Drive in 2014-2015, which started construction in November 2016, and Lawndale to US 29, with work to start currently scheduled for 2018.
In April 2005, the city of Greensboro voted to approve annexation of the Urban Loop into the city of Greensboro. The annexation took effect in June of that year.
I-73 is completed and signed along the southwestern part of Urban Loop, including a wrong-way concurrency with I-85 for approximately one mile. As a result of the freeway's unusual design, I-85 and I-73 do not share the same roadbed. A traveler following I-73 through the intersection will not at any point be on mainline I-85, despite signage that indicates otherwise to minimize confusion.
Alternate names
Officially it is known as the Greensboro Urban Loop and there is no official alternate name(s) to the entire loop or sections of it. Unofficially, the name Painter Boulevard was used locally as the name of the loop around Greensboro. Pennell Churchman Painter was the first city manager of Greensboro, serving from 1921 to 1929. The proposed loop was named for him in the early 1960s. NCDOT has repeatedly denied in public hearings, since the project's inception in 1995, that Painter Boulevard was ever used as a name for the Greensboro Urban Loop and in any official documentation. This is one of five freeway corridors in the Greensboro area to include the word "Boulevard" in its name. What is now I-85 Bus. is also known as Preddy Boulevard, what was once I-40 Bus. west of downtown (and is again I-40) is also known as Fordham Boulevard, and part of I-73 is planned to follow Bryan Boulevard. O. Henry Boulevard carries US 29 east of downtown Greensboro. It should be noted that since 2008 local media outlets have discontinued the name Painter Boulevard in their news reports.
Maps Greensboro Urban Loop
History
A June 1948 document from the city Planning & Zoning Commission described the loop as part of "a comprehensive thoroughfare system for Greensboro." At one time, the road was a parkway similar to Wendover Avenue and named "Painter Boulevard", but the city did not have enough money to build it, and federal help would require a road like an Interstate Highway.
The first appearance of a freeway urban loop appeared in the 1967 City of Greensboro Transportation Plan. In June 1977, a thoroughfare plan (including the urban loop) was adopted by the City of Greensboro, Guilford County and the North Carolina Board of Transportation. In July 1989, North Carolina Highway Trust Fund Law was enacted, which provides a trust fund for designated urban loops. By November 1989, an updated thoroughfare plan was approved by the city, county and state. Planning and environmental impact studies of the urban loop began in 1989-1990. In 1995, a Record of Decision was made approving the Greensboro Urban Loop; finalizing its routing and approval of a I-85 bypass.
In 2002, the first segment of the urban loop opened, a 2.21-mile (3.56 km) four-lane connector between I-40/I-85 and US 70; it was unsigned and designated as SR 3269. By 2006, Future I-840 signage appears at the US 70 interchange. In November 2016, I-785 signage began appearing on exit signs along I-40 and I-85 approaching the Loop interchange. On February 21, 2004, a 12.9-mile (20.8 km) southeast segment of the urban loop opened; designated as I-85, leaving its old alignment through Greensboro as I-85 Business.
Short Term Interstate 40 relocation
When the southwest section of the Loop was completed in March 2008, I-40 was moved onto the Loop sharing the route with I-85 on the eastern half and I-73 on the western, the existing I-40 through Greensboro was redesignated Business Interstate 40. On September 12, 2008, after complaints by local residents about traffic noise and motorists on the confusion between Interstate 40 and Business Interstate 40 through Greensboro, NCDOT officials received permission from the FHWA to reroute Interstate 40 back through the city of Greensboro and decommission Business Interstate 40. This placed Interstate 40 on its original route while leaving I-73 and I-85 signed along the Greensboro Urban Loop. By the end of fall 2008 Business Interstate 40 signs through Greensboro were to be replaced back with Interstate 40 signs, and US 421 was to be rerouted to replace most of the I-40 route along the Loop.
Future
The remaining sections of the Greensboro Urban Loop (designated as I-840 from Bryan Blvd to US 29 and I-785/I-840 south of US 29) are broken into two projects, both currently under construction:
- Western Loop from US 220 (Battleground Avenue) to Lawndale Drive
- This section is for a six-lane freeway connecting US 220 (Battleground Avenue) to Lawndale Drive in northwest Greensboro. Known as STIP Number U-2524D, it is estimated to cost $88.1 million, with property acquisition already in progress and construction started in November 2016 with completion currently scheduled for December 2020.
- Eastern Loop from US 29 to Lawndale Drive
- This section is for a six-lane freeway connecting US 29 to Lawndale Drive, with interchanges at Yanceyville Street and North Elm Street. Known as STIP Number U-2525C, it is estimated to cost $139 million, with property acquisition tentatively scheduled for 2016 and construction tentatively scheduled for 2018.
After the Greensboro Urban Loop is completed, NCDOT and Greensboro DOT plan to add two additional interchanges: Fleming-Lewiston Road (SR2136), and Cone Boulevard (SR2565). Plans for the additional interchanges have existed since 2004; however, because they are to be constructed after the loop's completion, there is no current time table or funding for these projects at this time.
Exit list
The entire route is in Greensboro, Guilford County.
References
External links
- Media related to Greensboro Urban Loop at Wikimedia Commons
- Greensboro Urban Loop | AARoads Interstate Guide
- Map of the Greensboro Urban Loop and Interchanges
- Greensboro Urban Area Bicycle, Pedestrian & Greenway Master Plan (October, 2006)
- NCDOT Urban Loop Project (September 19, 2012)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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