Interstate 40 Business (North Carolina)

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Interstate 40 Business
Route of Business 40 highlighted in red
Route information
Length: 18.5 mi[1] (29.8 km)
Existed: 1992 – present
Major junctions
West end: I‑40 / US 421 in Winston-Salem
East end: I‑40 / US 421 near Colfax
Location
Counties: Forsyth, Guilford
Highway system

In the U.S. state of North Carolina, Interstate 40 Business (commonly known as Business 40[citation needed]) is a 18.5-mile-long (29.8 km) business loop of Interstate 40; which serves the cities of Winston-Salem and Kernersville.

Route description

Business 40 begins at exit 188 of Interstate 40 and exit 238 of US 421 in Winston-Salem. Traveling east, the route goes through the downtown of Winston-Salem, which has several quick on/off exits. It then continues south of Kernersville, before meeting back with Interstate 40 (exit 206) near Colfax. The entire route is 4-lane at freeway grade, it is also completely overlapped with US 421.

History

Bus 40/US 421/NC 150 near Kernersville.

Winston-Salem

Originally known as the Downtown Expressway, it was one of the state's first urban freeways, predating the Interstate Highway System. The first section of the expressway was opened on January 6th, 1958, and ran from Cloverdale Avenue to Main Street signed as US 158. In 1959, Interstate 40 signs were added. In 1960, it was extended east to Reidsville Road. By 1962, the freeway extended west to the current junction with US 421 and east into Guilford County; it was also at that time when US 421 was rerouted from Reynolda Road to its current routing.[2]

Over the years, little has changed; which was a problem because the freeway was showing its age and was no longer considered interstate grade. In 1992, the state rerouted Interstate 40 onto a new bypass south of Winston-Salem. The old route was then renumbered as Interstate 40 Business. The freeway has made some repairs since then: In the late 1990s, the locally famous "Hawthorne Curve" near the North Carolina Baptist Hospital was rebuilt, softening the curve's angle. Other repairs were made on several exit ramps, roadbed grading, and bridges.[2]

Map the various routing changes in Greensboro between 2004 and 2008.

Greensboro

In February 2008, Interstate 40 was rerouted onto new freeway south of Greensboro, becoming part of the Greensboro Urban Loop. The old route through Greensboro was then renumbered as Business 40, treated as an extension from Colfax (hidden on main I-40, this is similar to how Business 85 is set up today in Greensboro). This extended the route 20 miles (32 km), ending at a new terminus at I-85/I-40, near McLeansville.[3][4][5]

However, NCDOT officials received a lot of complaints by local residents and motorists on the confusion between the new Interstate 40 and Business 40. Another issue was that funding for construction and repairs on the old route was slashed since it was no longer designated as an interstate. On September 12, 2008, with permission from FHWA, Interstate 40 was moved back to its old route through Greensboro, decommissioning Business 40 through Greensboro (basically existing for only seven months). By mid-2009, a majority of signs have been corrected, though there are still a few signs mislabeled.[3][6]

Future

In Kernersville, the roadway improvements and extension of Macy Grove Road will include the construction of a new interchange with I-40 Business/US 421. Property acquisition is to begin in 2012.[7][8] The interchange was opened to traffic sometime in 2015.

In Winston-Salem, shared with US 421, a 1-mile (1.6 km) section from west of Fourth Street to east of Church Street has begun project development studies to completely upgrade and streamline. The project includes removing the existing pavement and replacing it with new concrete pavement, upgrade and modernize entrance and exit ramps, and replace most of the bridges on and over the freeway. No cost or time frame has been given at this time.[9][10]

Exit list

County Location mi km Exit Destinations Notes
Forsyth Winston-Salem 0.0 0.0 1 I‑40 / US 421 north – Greensboro, Statesville, Wilkesboro, Yadkinville I-40 Business begins; north end of US 421 overlap, westbound exit and eastbound entrance
2 NC 67 (Silas Creek Parkway) Signed as exits 2A (south) and 2B (north)
3A Knollwood Street
3B US 158 west (Stratford Road) West end of US 158 overlap; signed as exits 3B (south) and 3C (north) westbound
4A Cloverdale Avenue Signed as exit 4 eastbound
4B West First Street / Hawthorne Road Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
5A NC 150 west (Peters Creek Parkway) West end of NC 150 overlap
5B Broad Street – BB&T Ballpark Also to Downtown
5C Cherry Street – Convention Center Also to Downtown
5D Main Street / First Street – Old Salem, Salem College Also to Downtown
6 US 52 / US 311 / NC 8 – Lexington, High Point, Mount Airy, Smith Reynolds Airport Signed as exits 6A (south) and 6B (north)
6C Martin Luther King Jr. Drive To Winston-Salem State University
7 Lowery Street / Fifth Street Eastbound Lowery Street, westbound Fifth Street
8 US 158 east (Reidsville Road) – Walkertown, Reidsville East end of US 158 overlap; eastbound exit and westbound entrance
10 Linville Road
Kernersville 14 South Main Street
15 NC 66 / NC 150 east – Kernersville East end of NC 150 overlap
16 Mountain Street – Colfax Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
17 Macy Grove Road Opened 2015[7][8]
Guilford Colfax 18.5 29.8 I‑40 / US 421 south – Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Statesville I-40 Business ends; south end of US 421 overlap, eastbound exit and westbound entrance
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Alternate names

Though the highway is simply known as Business 40 throughout the state, the highway does have other known names it uses locally in areas.

  • Downtown Expressway - Road name of first urban freeway in Winston-Salem, from Stratford Road to Main Street.
  • East-West Expressway - Alternate Road name of Business 40 in Winston-Salem.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 NCDOT: Greensboro Urban Loop
  4. ↑ NCDOT Press Release dated 9/12/08
  5. ↑ New Greensboro, N.C., Highway Makes Debut
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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