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You can't get there from the Greensboro Urban Loop


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Maybe you want to take the family to splash around this weekend at Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe, the water park on the south side of Greensboro. It sits right next to the Greensboro Urban Loop near its interchange with northbound Business 85 and southbound I-85.

You can see Emerald Pointe as you drive by. But you can't get there from the Loop, if you're driving west from the Triangle.

There is no off ramp to northbound Business 85 for westbound Loop drivers.

This missing exit is just one of the myriad mysteries of Greensboro's Urban Loop, where NCDOT has changed the signs again to reroute I-40 back onto its old path through the city's crowded Death Valley corridor (see today's Road Worrier column, with reader comments). (Why did DOT make the switch? For money.)

It's hard to navigate Death Valley and the Loop and their various interstates. The signs are lacking or confusing. And don't ask Google or Mapquest to help you -- they're both wrong on how they label the interstate routes around and through Greensboro ... [MORE] .

Take me home, Urban Loop

I get lost when I'm trying to find my way home after Sunday dinner with Mom.

It should be easy: Follow I-40 from her place near Greensboro to my place near Chapel Hill.

But it’s hard. I blame DOT and the fiendish maze it calls the Greensboro Urban Loop.

Now DOT is switching signs again – rerouting I-40 and “Business” I-40, posting new exit numbers, putting up new sign colors, even changing the mile markers. Can't they leave dumb enough alone?

Is it just me, or are there other folks who long for the old days of Death Valley -- where all roads through Greensboro led to a narrow, smoky, dangerous corridor?

If you have problems traveling I-85 and I-40 through or around Greensboro – or if you have solutions – I’d like to hear from you.

Please e-mail me or call me at 919-829-4527. Don’t forget to include your name and workday phone number.

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