Painter Boulevard, by any other name
A writer wonders why we refer to the highway that is being constructed around Greensboro as the Outer Loop when it should be called Painter Boulevard.
Our electronic archives go back to Jan. 1, 1990. Not surprisingly, the first reference to Painter Boulevard is Jan. 3, 1990. The headline on the letter to the editor: "Let's get on with Painter Blvd." Since then, Painter Boulevard has been mentioned in the paper more than 600 times, although there are some duplicates in that total.
But Painter Boulevard is fading from use.
Reporter Taft Wireback wrote about it last year about this time:
Writer No. 2 also wondered what happened to the loop's original name, Painter Boulevard, after P.C. Painter , the first Greensboro city manager. "Urban Loop" or "Outer Loop" sound so prosaic, this writer suggested.
Urban Loop is its official name as a state Department of Transportation project, said Mike Mills, division engineer for the Greensboro area. It was dubbed Painter Boulevard when conceived as a city project many years ago.
But for much of the road's course around Greensboro, people will know it as neither Painter nor loop; a lot of it will simply be Interstate 40 or I-85/40.
Does anyone call Four Seasons Town Centre anything but the mall? Is that tall building downtown the JP building or the Lincoln Financial tower? Brown Summit or Browns Summit? Phill G. McDonald Plaza or governmental plaza?
Should we call it Painter or the Loop?
Comments (8)
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I've been calling it 'the beltway' (the 'inner loop' going one direction, the 'outer loop' going the other direction--like the ones in DC/Baltimore/Atlanta)
Posted on March 26, 2008 9:41 AM
FWIW, local police, fire and EMS (at least judging by the scanner traffic I'm paid to listen to) use I-40 and I-85 and (I think) I-840 depending on what stretch of road they're referring to. They have to be precise because the same roads cross both the newly built sections of interstate and the current business routes that used to have interstate status.
Neither Painter nor the Urban Loop are specific enough, especially since the Loop isn't really a loop (yet). It's more like a Lo or an Op.
Posted on March 26, 2008 9:50 AM
When we moved here in 1977, we saw Painter Blvd. plans when we were looking for a house and made home-buying decisions based on our research and the road's intended location (which changed many times over the years). I like the "Urban Loop" designation, prefer simply "The Loop," (because we're not that urban). Painter Blvd. just doesn't give folks the understanding of what the road does and "loop" is a sort of multi-city-understood term. If visitors try to navigate around town, talking about a "loop" seems to make more sense (it's still difficult to explain quite what Wendover does).
Posted on March 26, 2008 10:16 AM
Why don't we call Business 40, Painter Blvd. or US 29, O' Henry Blvd? In practice calling Interstate and US Highways by their US. Government designation makes far more sense as everyone with access to a highway atlas will be able to locate those names but local names even if official, are always confusing.
Take it from someone who has driven EVERY Interstate highway and most every US Highway-- nothing is harder to navigate than directions from locals that use names that aren't on the maps available to travelers.
Posted on March 26, 2008 10:26 AM
Correction: Business 40 is Preddy Blvd.
Posted on March 26, 2008 10:31 AM
Since it was originally called Painter Blvd after a town manager let's just update it to call it Mitch Johnson Urban Loop? What say ye all?
Posted on March 28, 2008 3:49 PM
"....let's just update it to call it Mitch Johnson Urban Loop?"
Does that mean we would need to sue the city to use it, like is the case with the other Mitch Johnson Loop?
Posted on March 29, 2008 4:36 PM
Just call it the most annoying, horible, loud, window shaking, monstrosity ever built. Our builders all told us it was Painter Blvd. No one called it I-40, Sorry, DOT, say all you want that it was never painter, but it was. There is nothing BLVDish about this interstate. It has ruined our lives, and no one will take responsibility for it, or help us. Hide behind policy if it helps you sleep at night, because nothing helps us. Thanks to Greensboro for at least offering trees, but it really will never be the same for us again.
Posted on May 23, 2008 9:50 AM