Skip to main content

More NCDOT Miscommunication?

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 AASHTO approval, the street designation would 'be reclassified from a US Route to a Secondary Route' (SR). So by the beginning of this year, Main Street was in fact locally controlled.

Why didn't the reporter or the groups and city officials interviewed know about this? Perhaps NCDOT didn't inform them of the approval of the application? Though anyone could look up the decision online. Perhaps it's just because NCDOT has not removed all the Business 311 signs and everyone assumed as long as the signs are up it's still a US route. One of High Point's traffic camera's (Number 34) still shows a Business 311 sign at the corner of Main and Lexington Avenue. My trip through the corridor last spring also saw several other Business US 311 signs six months after the AASHTO approval.

I e-mailed the reporter with this information and told him he was free to pass it along to all the groups quoted in the article. It will be interesting to see if any blame is placed on the local NCDOT district office for making all the groups wait on presenting plans, when they didn't have to (or embarrassing them publicly). The local district has to know about the change because they put up new signs on US 311 South at Main Street after the old ones had been taken down by a tornado. The signs no longer list Business 311, just Main Street. My piece of advice: assumption is the mother of all screw-ups, this particularly applies when NCDOT is involved.

Comments

Larry G said…
so.... why is this a problem....anyhow?

is there some downside to this that would have been known had NCDOT told everyone?

I guess I'm not "getting it"
Bob Malme said…
No downside. I was just commenting on the apparent ignorance on the part of public and private groups in W-S over the status of Business 311. That they were having an important enough meeting for a reporter to attend over what to do when 311 Business is decommissioned, when it already was decommissioned a year ago. I will monitor the paper to see if there is a follow-up article and see how the oversight is explained.

Popular posts from this blog

Former US Route 50 and the Pioneer Route Lincoln Highway on Johnson's Pass Road

Johnson's Pass Road is one of the oldest highway corridors in California.  Johnson's Pass was part of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road as it was completed during 1856 over the Sierra Nevada.  The pass would later be incorporated into the Pioneer Branch of the Lincoln Highway in 1913 and US Route 50 in 1926.  Johnson's Pass Road would be bypassed by a new alignment of US Route 50 over Echo Summit in 1938.  A replacement of the Meyers Grade east of Johnson's Pass would be opened to traffic in 1947.   Johnson's Pass Road remains accessible to traffic and is still signed by the Lincoln Highway Association.  Pictured as the blog cover is the view from the top of Johnson's Pass Road overlooking modern US Route 50 and Lake Tahoe.   Part 1; the history of Johnson's Pass Much of the history of what become the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road is discussed in the  September 1950 California Highways & Public Works  during its Centennial Edition.  The or...

Former US Route 50 and the South Lincoln Highway from Folsom east to Placerville

The corridor of Folsom of Sacramento County east to Placerville of El Dorado County has been a long established corridor of overland travel dating back to the California Gold Rush.  The Folsom-Placerville corridor was once part of the path of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road which became the first California State Highway and later the South Lincoln Highway.  In time the South Lincoln Highway's surface alignment was inherited by US Route 50.  The Folsom-Placerville corridor also includes the communities of; Clarksville, Shingle Springs and El Dorado. Part 1; the history of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road, South Lincoln Highway and US Route 50 through Folsom-Placerville Folsom is located on the American River/Lake Natoma of eastern Sacramento County.  That lands now occupied by the City of Folsom were part of Rancho Rio de los Americanos prior to the finding of gold at Sutter's Mill during 1848.  During the California Gold Rush the lands of Rancho Rio de los Americanos were p...

Old NC 10 - The Central Highway: Old Fort to Black Mountain through the Royal Gorge

A unique way of tracing the remnants of the Central Highway is through the mountainous terrain of Eastern Buncombe and Western McDowell Counties.  From the east on US 70, you reach the base of Blue Ridge Mountains at the town of Old Fort.  Old Fort is a tiny rail town that the old Central Highway and now US 70 goes through.  The Central Highway can be followed via a right onto Mill Creek Road from US 70.  Follow the highway as it takes you closer to the mountains.  When Mill Creek Road bears right to head towards Andrews Geyser stay straight until the road ends at a gate.  The nearby Piney Grove Church can be used for parking.  At this point, the old Central Highway began a 3.5 mile climb of the mountain to Swannanoa Gap.  NC 10 and later US 70 travelers followed this road for over 30 years until a new and modern four lane US 70 was built to the south.  This same four lane road would eventually become Interstate 40.    The Centra...