The state Department of Transportation stands to regain about $3 million a year in lost highway money when it returns Interstate 40 to its old route through Greensboro’s clogged, polluted Death Valley corridor.
Doug Galyon of Greensboro, chairman of the state Board of Transportation, cited complaints from Greensboro residents when he announced plans last week to remove I-40 signs from Greensboro’s new Urban Loop bypass.
Residents in neighborhoods near the bypass complained of losing sleep because of noisy nighttime truck traffic. I-40 motorists said they frequently lose their way on the eight-lane Urban Loop.
But DOT officials acknowledge that the deciding factor was a chance to restore federal interstate maintenance money that had been lost to the Greensboro area after the old Death Valley route was renamed Business 40 in February.
Lacy Love, DOT asset management director, said today the state will qualify for roughly $2.7 million to $3.2 million each year in additional federal money for repaving and repairs after it restores the interstate highway designation to the 15-mile I-40 route through Greensboro’s Death Valley.
The change, which will take effect later this year, also will mean a shorter journey for I-40 travelers. The new bypass added five miles to the odometer for every I-40 journey — although DOT stretched its mile markers to mask the difference.
Bruce Siceloff reports on traffic and transportation. A News & Observer reporter, editor and blogger since 1976, he took over the
Comments
Your tax $$$ at work
Sat, 09/20/2008 - 04:01 — phelpsgatesI go to the mountains quite a lot and measured the time it takes going each route (from the split to the rejoin). The new southern route takes 16 minutes (you can zip along at 70 to 72 all the way), and the old route generally takes 14 minutes. The extra 2 minutes is worth it, to avoid the heavy congested traffic through Greensboro (especially the "merge from hell" section). And at rush hour, don't even think about using the old route.
As for the (repeated) re-numbering, this is another one of those things that make you say "What are those guys at DMT thinking??" Did they know they would lose funding by the (first) renumbering? If so, couldn't they have kept the money by renumbering it as I-740 or something? (it's still not quite clear to me why the Bus-40 renumbering loses money). The whole think smacks of bogus accounting tricks, anyhow: just a scheme to separate the Federal Guv-m'nt from their (er... our) money!
Mile markers
Thu, 09/18/2008 - 15:08 — scoccaI guess it's fortunate they stretched the mile markers rather than renumbering every exit from Greensboro to Wilmington. That would have been a lot of signage to fix!
Not to mention ..
Fri, 09/19/2008 - 07:08 — BruceSiceloff (author).. a lot of signs that would have to be switched back now.