Gribblenation

There's a citizen's group in the Triad that is pushing for the completion of the Northern Beltway (Future I-74). The group has a blogsite , twitter feed , and facebook fan page. Feel free to check them out, I've added a link to their blog site on the side column links.

NC 90 is one the more unique highways in the state.  Mostly because of an isolated journey over nearly eight miles of unpaved roads to its Western Terminus in Edgemont.  The Western Terminus of NC 90 was not completely clear to many roadgeeks for a number of years. Well thanks to a recent bridge replacement project the Western Terminus has been marked.  Bobby Schultz, who enjoys exploring the numerous mountain backroads of the area, was kind enough to send some photos of the recently signed terminus. As you can see the terminus is now also paved.  The pavement is a result of the completion of a new two lane bridge, which you can see in the photo below. The pavement ends about 50 yards beyond both ends of the bridge.  The pavement really feels out of place as it is surrounded by unpaved roads in all directions.  Also, a nitpick, but you'll notice the pointed edges of the NC diamond shield vs. the traditional rounded corners of the diamond.  The...

You may have noticed that the number of posts here at the blog have diminished since August.  The reason?  Well, I'm in the process of buying a new home, and the past four-six weeks have been rather hectic.  (And it's been hectic in transportation news along the East Coast as well!) We close on the 7th, so hopefully in a few weeks when we're settled and the study is completed, there will be more blog posts on the way!

These are excerpts from an article in today's Winston-Salem Journal, link to entire article in blog title above: "The N.C. Department of Transportation wants to work with local elected officials and business leaders to find ways to get construction started on the Northern Beltway, but the state still won’t have any money to pay for project until 2020. That’s the message that Transportation Secretary Gene Conti delivered to about 70 people last night at a meeting about transportation issues in Forsyth County . The Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce sponsored the meeting of elected officials and business people. It was held in the law firm of Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice on West Fourth Street.... Officials in Raleigh , Wilmington and Fayetteville will use tolls to pay for sections of their urban loops, Conti said. However, the DOT is still using state money to pay for the remainder of these projects’ costs. Don Flow , the owner of Flow Automotives Cos. , asked C...

If you click the title you will be taken to an article written a few days ago (August 26) about efforts to redevelop Main Street through downtown High Point. The main point of the article is that when the street is no longer designated as US 311 Business, the city and local development groups can take control of the road and move ahead on efforts to revitalize the corridor. Most of the efforts currently involve slowing traffic down through reducing speed limits, possibly narrowing the road from 4 lanes to 2 with wider sidewalks and medians, plus other traffic calming measures which all believe will help stimulate the local economy. The story is based on one big assumption though, that NCDOT hasn't given back Main Street to local control. But, in fact it has. Last November NCDOT submitted an application to remove the US 311 Business designation from Main Street to AASHTO's US Route Numbering committee. They approved the application. According to the NCDOT application, upon AASHT...

With others in the blog crew busy, or away for Labor Day, I decided to see what progress has been made on the Durham section of the Triangle Expressway, the Triangle Parkway since July. I'll wait for when others from the Wake County contingent are interested to explore progress on the part to the south, the Western Wake Freeway. The tour starts from the northern end of the parkway at I-40 and works down to the end at NC 540. The following of note was seen: 1. I-40 Interchange Some progress has been made in building a more high-speed off ramp from I-40 East. The ramp roadbed continues along the jersey barrier to the south, which I assume will become a merging third lane. Notice the I-40 overhead exit sign. It is one of the new 'highly reflective', needs no lighting, signs that have gone up along the Durham Freeway. The new sign, however, does not have an exit number. 2. NC 54 Bridge From the previous visit, the impression of the construction was that it was simply going to b...

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was joined by local resident Bill Travers, who has helped update me on the status of the 311 project through e-mail the past couple years. He showed me several additional areas to check out. I will also include photos showing what construction has started along US 220 in the Asheboro area. I. I-74/US 311 Freeway, Design-Build Section A. Spencer Road Not much new to report here, still a place where most of the clearing and grading equipment is being parked. B. Banner Whitehead Road There has not been much progress clearing the section north of the roadway: Though there was progress on demolishing the farm to the south of the road, here is all that is left of the buildings, most of which were still standing in July: If anyone needs some cement bricks, this is the place to go to. We then proceeded back to 311 to take a left after the water tower onto- C. Nelson Park Road This is a road that dead ends at a house, the freeway cuts the house off from t...