News-Record.com

U.S. 311 Bypass work delayed

HIGH POINT - Work on the U.S. 311 Bypass from High Point into Randolph County has been delayed at least nine months, pushing the construction start to mid-2006.

The N.C. Department of Transportation is scheduled to select contractors in May 2006, said John Hunsinger, the division project manager for the Greensboro region.

The next segment will take the road from where it ends at Business 85 to Spencer Road in Randolph County.

Officials had hoped to begin work in September. But a state transportation funding crunch has delayed the project. Hunsinger said the date is subject to change. The new work schedule is expected to be approved by the state in July.

Phil Wylie, High Point's transportation director, said any delay affects the entire Piedmont Triad.

"I think it (the road) would help not just High Point, but the region," Wylie said.

Since the latest segment of the road opened in November from Eastchester Drive to Business 85, drivers want to know when the road will be extended to Interstate 85, Wylie said.

"Any loss of time affects us because a lot of folks use 311," he said.

Hunsinger said he did not have a timeline for construction of the next segment, although Wylie believes it will take about three years.

Previous construction estimates place the cost of the next phase of the road at $96.8 million.

Funding has not been secured for the remaining eight miles of the road to U.S. 220, which is tentatively scheduled to begin sometime after 2012.

The bypass will eventually allow drivers to get from Interstate 40 in Winston-Salem to U.S. 220 and avoid U.S. 311, which takes motorists through downtown High Point and Archdale. That road will become U.S. 311 Business.

Once completed to U.S. 220, the bypass can also be designated as Interstate 74, which will run from Iowa to Wilmington.

Trying to get to work on time has become a real obstacle course.

It seems I can't make it from Greensboro to High Point without hitting some kind of delay lately, mostly due to road construction.

Business 85 and Kivett Drive are tied up with orange cones and lane closures because of the Kivett Drive widening. Eastchester Drive is a bit bumpy because the N.C. Department of Transportation is repaving the road and you're never sure where they will be working in the mornings.

And, of course, forget about coming down Wendover Avenue.

OK. I'm done. Just needed to get that road rage out of my system.

The right lane of eastbound Interstate 40 will be closed each night for the next two weeks from the Forsyth County line to the Durham County line.

The lane will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night so N.C. Department of Transportation work crews can wash bridges.

The work will begin tonight.

Greensboro and Guilford County residents have an opportunity to comment on the proposed work schedule for state and federally funded transportation projects.

A public meeting will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. May 12 in the Executive Council Chambers Room, Melvin Municipal Office Building, 300 W. Washington St.

The city's draft schedule does not include Burlington, Gibsonville, High Point, Jamestown and Whitsett projects.

It is available for review at the offices of the Guilford County Commissioners, Greensboro City Clerk, Greensboro Department of Transportation, the N.C. Department of Transportation Division 7 office, N.C. A&T student union, UNCG library, all Greensboro public libraries and the town clerk’s offices in Oak Ridge, Pleasant Garden, Sedalia, Stokesdale and Summerfield.

Comments must be submitted by May 31. They can be e-mailed to guampo@greensboro-nc.gov, faxed to 412-6171 or mailed to P.O. Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402.

For more information, call 373-2254.

So The Pantry, which owns Kangaroo convenience marts in North Carolina, is accusing Sheetz and Kroger of selling gasoline at below wholesale cost, a no-no under state law. Sounds like sour grapes to me, but I don't know if I buy Sheetz's denial.

This chain sells absurdly cheap gasoline. They rely on customers ordering food from their indoor, fast food-style restaurants. They're great at what they do. But it doesn't mean it's always, um, fair? I won't say illegal because, heck, I don't know all the details.

But we love our SUVs. And if dropping your price 10 cents lower per gallon than the guy across the street brings in more customers, I'm sure cheeseburger sales more than covered the profit loss from the pumps. This lawsuit should prove interesting. Any thoughts out there?

Beginning Monday, the city of Greensboro will begin the following road work that could cause drivers delays:

CURB WORK:
- Elm Street from Northwood Street to Fisher Park Circle

MANHOLE AND VALVE ADJUSTMENTS:
- Cranbrook Street from Causey Street to Cliffton Road
- Ashebrook Drive from Shelby Drive to Wildberry Drive
- North Westgate Drive from West Market Street to Staunton Drive
- Mitchell Street from Muirs Chapel Road to dead end
- Elm Street from Northwood Street to Fisher Park Circle

RESURFACING:
- Dante Lane from Friendly Acres Drive to cul de sac
- Red Sail Lane from Gramercy Road to dead end
- Chadford Place from Red Sail Lane to Friendly Acres Drive
- Gainsboro Drive from Friendly Acres Drive to Chadford Place
- Palmyra Drive from Hobbs Road to Pinetop Road
- Old Friendly Road from Friendly Avenue to Radar Road
- Aero Court from Cessna Drive to cul de sac
- Lindsay Street from Dudley Street to Summit Avenue
- Yanceyville Street from Summit Avenue to Lindsay Street

The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation has a full agenda for its Wednesday meeting.

Items include:
- The purchase of property at Reedy Fork Ranch for a park-and-ride lot and an agreement to build one in Thomasville.
- The fiscal year 2006 budget.
- A resolution asking the state to look at revamping the way it doles out interstate maintenance funds. Several Triad leaders have expressed concern the region is being penalized by the state's current formula.
- Consideration of the Heart of the Triad land-use proposal that looks at about 53,000 acres extending along the I-40 corridor from PTI to Kernersville.

PART meets at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at 7800 Airport Center Drive, Suite 101, in Greensboro.

Train horns keep you up at night? Maybe not for too much longer.
A federal rule that takes effect next month allows communities to ban the loud air horns blasting from locomotives upon approach to rail crossings.
Here's how it works:
If all crossings in a given area have certain types of warning lights and arm gates, local governments can post signs along tracks telling engineers to keep their hands off the horn.
These zones must be at least a half-mile in length. And engineers may sound their approach when they see something - or someone - on the tracks ahead.
If a crossing within the stretch doesn’t meet standards, a town or county must make improvements before submitting its "quiet zone" proposal to the Federal Railroad Administration.
And there's the catch, at least in North Carolina.

Just in time for your summer vacation plans, the Texas Transportation Institute has released its annual congestion figures.

The report looks at how much time Americans spend in traffic and how much money we waste doing it.

In North Carolina, the study has data on our fellow commuters in Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte.

There's no data on the Triad. We're not yet considered a large urban area in the study. But, hey, there's always next year.

Does this company ever stop to think that maybe one reason they face such financial trouble is a lack of customer service? 200 flights canceled from Charlotte, countless others delayed, all because of a runway project. I'm a fan of safe facilities for planes, but why not schedule this project ahead of time rather than call folks not 72 hours before their flights?

Or maybe I'm just pissed off they "forgot" to pack my luggage Monday morning on my flight back from Philly.

Various lanes along Interstate 85, or the Southern Bypass, will be closed at night today through Saturday.

The lane closures will occur between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. between the exits for U.S. 220 and Groometown Road.

Crews will be performing steel work on a new bridge.

HIGH POINT -- Only on paper now does the Westside Thoroughfare run through northeast Davidson County. But High Point officials want to make sure that it gets penciled in correctly before its path is gobbled up by development.

The planned 10.5 mile, four-lane Westside Thoroughfare would take drivers from I-85 at Cucumber Road to North Main Street and the U.S. 311 bypass in High Point. The location of the road is roughly projected to travel just west of the Guilford County line.

City officials have asked the state to move forward on early planning work. The city fears that if the state waits much longer, land in the path of the $170 million road will have homes and businesses, making the road much harder to build.

Click here to continue reading.

GREENSBORO - The state should do a better job of funding maintenance for interstates, particularly in heavily traveled areas such as the Triad, regional transportation officials said Wednesday.

The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation board approved a resolution supporting a change in the way interstate maintenance is funded by the N.C. Department of Transportation.

If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times.

Stay off Eastchester Drive in High Point! The road is being repaved and there are lane closures up and down the road.

Maybe I'm a bit touchy because as the News & Record's transportation reporter, I've tried to warn you with stories.

But it seems like nobody is listening. So I'll say it again, especially because the lane closures seem to be especially prevalent this week.

The N.C. Department of Transportation is repaving Eastchester Drive from Penny Road to North Centennial Street.

Road crews are permitted to work weekdays from 8:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. with an exception for certain heavily traveled areas. Work on Eastchester Drive's intersections with Wendover Avenue/Skeet Club Road and North Centennial Street as well as just south of Penny Road can only take place on the weekends.

The High Point Department of Transportation is recommending drivers use Johnson Street as an alternative.

The repaving should be completed in late June or early July.

N.C. 61 will be closed between U.S. 70 and N.C. 100 beginning 9 a.m. Monday.

The section of the road will remain closed through 4 p.m. May 25 while work crews replace a pipe.

Traffic will be detoured to U.S. 70 and N.C. 100 and then back on to N.C. 61.

The city of High Point tells us that English Road and Kivett Drive are closed this afternoon between Ward Avenue and Elm Street because of a construction accident.

Here's what the city's public information officer Alice Moore said happened:

"At about 2:30 p.m., an abutment wall at the Lindsay Street bridge work site gave way, sending a track-hoe excavator down the north embankment and breaking a 12-inch water main. The excavator came to rest just short of the railroad tracks. Miraculously, no one was hurt. However, the city transportation department is diverting Kivett Drive traffic onto Chestnut Street while the safety of the Kivett Drive roadbed is investigated and the disabled piece of equipment is moved.

"Please advise people to avoid English Road/Kivett Drive between Ward Avenue and Elm Street."

Barring inclement weather, equipment failures, or other unforeseen problems, work will begin on the following areas during the week of May 16:

CURB LINE MILLING
* Elm St from Northwood St to Fisher Park Cir.

MANHOLE AND VALVE ADJUSTMENT LOCATIONS:
* Westgate Dr N. from W.Market St. to Staunton Dr.
* Elm St from Northwood St to Fisher Park Cir.
* Elm St from cone Blvd. To Cornwallis Dr.

RESURFACING - ASPHALT TOP PLACEMENT LOCATIONS:
* Dante Ln. from Friendly Acres to Cul De Sac
* Red Sail Ln. from Gramercy Rd. to Dead End
* Chadford Pl. from Red Sail Ln. to Friendly Acres Dr.
* Gainsboro Dr. from Friendly Acres to Chadford Pl.
* Palmyra Dr. from Hobbs Rd. to Pinetop Rd
* Old Friendly Rd. from Friendly Av. To Radar Rd.
* Aero Ct. from Cessna Dr. to Cul De Sac
* Elm St from Northwood St to Fisher Park Cir.

RESURFACING - PATCHING EXSTING STREETS:
* Yanceyville St. from Summit Ave. to Lindsay St.
* Bennett / Dudley St. from E. Market St. to E Lee St.

Click here for information on the construction accident that's closed Kivett Drive for several weeks.

KERNERSVILLE - The Urban Loop. The U.S. 311 Bypass. The U.S. 220-N.C. 68 connector.

All are important road projects for the region. All may be delayed in the N.C. Department of Transportation's six-year draft work schedule because of a funding crunch.

And at a meeting Monday for the Piedmont Triad area, representatives made their pitch to N.C. DOT officials that road projects in their cities and towns be allowed to avoid the delays impacting projects statewide.

Click here to read "Officials lobby for highway projects."

Dateline NBC did an interesting story Sunday night on the nation's most dangerous roads.

They looked at fatality data over the past five years from the federal government. A link from the story allows you to search by county.

In Guilford County, Interstates 40 and 85 and U.S. 29 had the highest number of fatalities over the past five years.

GREENSBORO - The intersection of U.S. 29 and Lee Street will be closed Friday night for the replacement of a bridge.

The right lane of northbound U.S. 29 at Lee Street and both directions of Lee Street at U.S. 29 will be closed at 9 p.m. Friday. It will be reopened at 6 a.m. Saturday.

Traffic on Lee Street will be detoured using Benbow Road, Florida Street and Willow Road.

HIGH POINT - Drivers should expect delays Saturday at two Eastchester Drive intersections.

Work crews will be doing paving work at the Wendover Avenue/Skeet Club Road and North Centennial Street intersections.

The work will occur between 7 a.m and 7 p.m. and is part of the N.C. Department of Transportation's repaving of Eastchester Drive from Centennial Street to Penny Road.

Work at the two intersections is only permitted on the weekends.

See earlier post for more information.

The right lane of westbound Interstate 40 will be closed each night beginning Sunday from the I-40/Interstate 85 split in Orange County to the Forsyth County line.

The lane will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night so N.C. Department of Transportation work crews can wash bridges.

The work will end June 3.

Barring inclement weather, equipment failures, or other unforeseen problems, work will begin on the following areas during the week of May 23:

MANHOLE AND VALVE ADJUSTMENT LOCATIONS:
- Westgate Drive North from West Market Street to Staunton Drive
- Elm Street from Northwood Street to Fisher Park Circle
- Elm Street from Cone Boulevard to Cornwallis Drive
- Sullivan Street from Cypress Street to Lindsay Street

RESURFACING - ASPHALT TOP PLACEMENT LOCATIONS
- Old Friendly Road from Friendly Avenue to Radar Road
- Aero Court from Cessna Drive to cul de sac
- Elm Street from Northwood Street to Fisher Park Circle
- Elm Street from Cone Boulevard to Cornwallis Drive

RESURFACING - PATCHING EXISTING STREETS:
- Yanceyville Street from Summit Avenue to Lindsay Street
- Bennett/Dudley Street from East Market Street to East Lee Street
- Hassall Street from Gillespie Street to Bingham Road
- Bywood Road from Bonaire Lane to Woodbriar Avenue

With Memorial Day right around the corner and the summer traveling season upon us, I found a few tips from author Susan Foster for making your airline flights a little less stressful. Her Web site goes into even more detail, though it's a little harder to navigate. Bon voyage!

Vehicle navigation systems are in high demand, and forecasters predict sales to skyrocket as prices drop over the coming years. Wasn't this once called an "atlas?" I have one in my car. It cost me $10. I use it by pulling into a parking lot, looking up a street name and map grid, then running my finger along the black lines to where I'm currently stationed. My grandkids are going to wonder how I was ever able to do this...

If you've thus far survived the first phase of East Market Street's Streetscape, you should be able to hang on a few more days. Final paving kicks off Tuesday. A city press release states that "absolutely no on-street parking will be allowed during the paving process," which is expected to last "five to six days." As always, expect delays.

The News & Observer in Raleigh wrapped up a four-day series today on the damage caused to North Carolina roads by overweight trucks. I'm not a huge fan of multi-day stories, but if you have 30 minutes, I suggest you read this. It's quite enlightening.

If you only have 30 seconds, here's a breakdown: More trucks than ever before are rolling past the North Carolina highway weigh stations, tearing up asphalt in their wake. Highway Patrol isn't taking care of the problem for a variety of reasons, and lawmakers are of little help. In fact, the General Assembly has passed mutiple bills over the past decade making it easier for heavy trucks to not only travel the interstates, but to use secondary roads that can not support these vehicles. Who carries the burden of making repairs? Yup. John Q. Public.

GREENSBORO - The eastern section of the Urban Loop is needed for the region's economic development, local business leaders say, and they are pushing the state to restore funding for its construction.

To read the full article, click here.

A new study out today says the condition of major roads in U.S. cities continues to decline.

The study, from a transportation industry research group called The Road Information Program, said out of every four miles of urban roads, one mile has pavement in substandard condition. (Check out the USA Today article.)

Kansas City ranked the worst, with the study citing 71 percent of roads there in poor condition.

Locally, Greensboro was not included in the study, but I called to see if there was data available on our roads.

Barring inclement weather, equipment failures or other unforeseen problems, work will begin on the following areas during the week of May 30:

CURB LINE MILLING:
- Yanceyville Street from Summit Avenue to Lindsay Street
- Bennett Street/Dudley Street from East Market Street to East Lee Street
- Dudley Street from East Lindsay Street to Massey Street
- Hassall Street from Gillespie Street to Bingham Street

MANHOLE AND VALVE ADJUSTMENT LOCATIONS:
- Elm Street from Cone Boulevard to Cornwallis Drive
- Sullivan Street from Cypress Street to Lindsay Street
- Yanceyville Street from Summit Avenue to Lindsay Street
- Dudley Street from East Lindsay Street to Massey Street

RESURFACING - ASPHALT TOP PLACEMENT LOCATIONS
- Old Friendly Road from Friendly Avenue to Radar Road
- Aero Court from Cessna Drive to cul de sac
- Elm Street from Northwood Street to Fisher Park Circle
- Elm Street from Cone Boulevard to Cornwallis Drive
- Grumman Road from Boeing Drive to cul de sac

RESURFACING - PATCHING EXISTING STREETS:
- Bennett Street/Dudley Street from East Market Street to East Lee Street
- Hassall Street from Gillespie Street to Bingham Road
- Bywood Road from Bonaire Lane to Woodbriar Avenue

HIGH POINT - The worst is over on Eastchester Drive.

The repaving work from Penny Road to North Centennial Street that caused major traffic backups earlier in the month is complete, said Hani Kattan, an assistant resident engineer for the N.C. Department of Transportation.

Click here to continue reading story.

Ah, summer. Barbecues in the park... Family road trips... And plenty of water activities. Like boating.
With the unofficial start to vacation season underway this weekend, safety advocates want boaters, jet skiers and parasailers to take precautions when hitting the H2O.
An average of 700 people die nationwide each year in boating accidents, according to the National Safe Boating Council and the U.S. Coast Guard. Eight out of 10 fatalities occurred when the person wasn't wearing a life jacket.
To address those statistics, the council this week launched its 2005 North American Safe Boating Campaign. This summer's message is the same as the past few years: "Boat Smart. Boat Safe. Wear It."

A South Carolina lawmaker toys with the idea of strengthening vision requirements for getting a drivers license. There's no better way to write off the AARP endorsement in '06.

According to the Associated Press:
South Carolina isn't alone in requiring 20-40 vision in just one eye. The laws in North Carolina and Florida are nearly identical, and several other Southeastern states have similar standards.