2 sections of Greensboro loop tapped for completion (Greensboro News and Record)
GREENSBORO — The Greensboro Urban Loop ranks high in a new statewide review of such projects by the N.C. Department of Transportation, meaning two of its last three sections could be finished by mid-2020.
A new ranking of 21 unfinished sections of North Carolina’s planned urban loops rates the two unfinished Greensboro segments high — a 5-mile stretch of the western loop from Bryan Boulevard to Lawndale Drive, and a 5-mile part of the eastern loop between U.S. 70 north to U.S. 29.
A draft timetable calls for DOT to start buying the remaining land needed for Bryan-to-Battleground next year, with construction starting in 2014. It schedules final land-buying for the eastern-loop section in 2015, with construction from 2017 to 2020.
After their completion, one segment of the eastern loop would remain before the entire loop is complete; across Greensboro’s heavily populated northern tier between U.S. 29 and Lawndale.
The DOT screening process ranked loop projects from Wilmington to Raleigh, Charlotte and Asheville on such factors as their ability to reduce travel times, move freight and spur economic development.
Winston-Salem fared poorly in the rankings. Its proposed loop finished low and was not recommended for land-buying or construction during the next decade.
Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or taft.wireback@news-record.com
Thursday, July 29, 2010 (Updated Friday, July 30 – 9:19 am)
