GREENSBORO, N.C. — You could be driving on the last leg of the Greensboro Urban Loop (I-840) in just a few weeks.
North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) said Thursday the last stretch of the highway will open by the end of January. That's ahead of schedule with the previous timeline being spring 2023. This last leg spans from North Elm Street to Highway 29 and makes it easier to connect to I-40.
It could be done as soon as January 20, according to our news partners at Triad Business Journal.
We spoke to neighbors who live near the loop.
“I think it’ll cut most of the people’s driving time in half. It does save people time and money,” Jamie Sessions said.
Other neighbors have concerns about the noise.
“Sometimes at night, my husband and I are sitting outside by the fire pit and we are having conversations and those big trucks are flying by and rubbing their engines, and we have to stop our conversation because we can’t hear each other speak,” Mia Rogers said.
NCDOT said the project will take away a lot of congestion on the arterial roads around Greensboro.
“It’s a huge accomplishment – these big loop projects have been multiple decades in the making. If you go back and look at the history of some of these, the original planning meetings for a lot of these projects began in the ‘60s and ‘70s for a lot of our metro areas, so it’s obviously the culmination of a lot of hard work and a lot of planning – a lot on our part, a lot from our partners,” NCDOT representative Aaron Moody said.
NCDOT said in order for them to open the final stretch by the end of the month, we are going to need some good weather to roll our way in order for the workers to get the job done.
Construction began 10 years ago.
The highway will connect all parts of Greensboro.
The project costs about $500 million.