Skip to main content

Paper: Expecting I-785? It may be awhile.

In Saturday's Greensboro News Record, there was a lengthy article discussing the progress on the Future I-785 corridor. Well make that the lack of progress.

Since the corridor's designation in 1997 - the first Future I-785 Corridor sign were first posted in June 1998, there has been not much done to upgrade current US 29 in Guilford or Rockingham Counties to an Interstate quality highway. US 29/Future I-785 also cuts through the northwest corner of Caswell County.

The cost to upgrade the highway has doubled from an estimated $100 million in 1998 to $200 million today. Most of the upgrading would be on a four lane at-grade section of US 29 from southern Rockingham County to Greensboro. US 29 from Reidsville north to the to the Virginia border is currently a freeway with not as much upgrading necessary.

Currently, the state funding priorities have been towards completing the Greensboro Urban Loop (Interstate 840) and upgrading US 220 to Interstate 73. Interstate 785 may be routed on the Northeast corner of the Greensboro Loop. That section from US 29 southwards to the completed portion of the highway at US 70 is scheduled to begin land acquisition in 2009 followed by the start of construction in 2011. The estimated cost for that section of Interstate 840 is $117 million.

Story:
Road of uncertainty: The proposed I-785 corridor ---Greensboro News-Record

Commentary:
Will Interstate 785 ever exist? That's a good question. Is there a need for an interstate from Greensboro to Danville? Another good question.

Let me answer the second first. There is a need for a freeway NOT an Interstate from Greensboro to Danville. Over 1/2 of US 29 from I-40 to US 360 in Danville is a freeway. Most of it has been built over the last 30 years. Immediately north of I-40, US 29 is an urban freeway with no emergency shoulders, only a concrete barrier with no median separating opposing lanes of traffic. Very narrow and tight ramps to city streets. Also around NC A&T, spectators for sporting events park along what emergency shoulders still remain.

For years on the NC State Highway Map, the Greensboro section of US 29 had been listed as a freeway, it's not any more. Beyond the city limits as you head north towards Reidsville, a center grass median exists, but there are numerous at grade intersections, traffic lights, access roads, etc. that are part of the corridor. This is the section that will need the most upgrading.

If I-785 does come to pass, and I don't think it will be seen for another 20 years if not more, it should be routed along I-840 to eliminate the need, and the cost, to do a major upgrade of US 29 through Greensboro.

But if you aren't going to source funding for the project and there's no urgency to do so, why even try to promote it as a 'FUTURE INTERSTATE CORRIDOR' when nothing is going to be done for another 20 years from now, which is 30 years after the idea was first conceived.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Pollasky Bridge

The Pollasky Bridge near modern day Friant is a ruined highway bridge which was completed during early 1906 as part of the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road.  The structure is one of the oldest known arch concrete spans to have been constructed in California.  The bridge briefly carried California State Route 41 following the destruction of the Lanes Bridge in 1940.  The Pollasky Bridge itself was destroyed by flooding during 1951, but the ruins can still be found on the Madera County side of the San Joaquin River.   Pictured as the blog cover is the Pollasky Bridge as it was featured in the 1913 book "The Concrete Bridge."  The structure can be seen crossing the San Joaquin River near Friant below on the 1922 United States Geological Survey Map.   Part 1; the history of the Pollasky Bridge The Pollasky Bridge site is near modern day Friant of Fresno County.  The community of Friant was established as Converse Ferry during 1852 on the San Joaquin Rive...

Trimmer Springs Road (Fresno County)

Trimmer Springs Road is an approximately forty-mile rural highway located in Fresno County.  The corridor begins near in California State Route 180 in Centerville and extends to Blackrock Road at the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada range near the Pacific Gas & Electric Company town of Balch Camp. The roadway is named after the former Trimmer Springs Resort and was originally constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.  Trimmer Springs Road was heavily modified and elongated after construction of Pine Flat Dam broke ground in 1947.   Part 1; the history of Trimmer Springs Road Much of the original alignment of Trimmer Springs Road was constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.   The  Kings River Lumber Company  had been established in 1888 in the form of a 30,000-acre purchase of forest lands in Converse Basin.  This purchase lied immediately west of Grant Grove and came to be known as "Millwood."  The co...

When was Ventura Avenue east of downtown Fresno renamed to Kings Canyon Road? (California State Route 180)

California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934.  The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park.  By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove.   In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park.  The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed.  Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno.   The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaini...