GREENSBORO, NC - On Friday, March 18th, at 12pm, a six-mile section of Future I-73 from N.C. 68 to U.S. 220 will open to traffic.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation said the section improves travel times because of the absence of stoplights, intersections and can help eliminate collision points around parts of Guilford County.
NCDOT also said the section improves connections to Oak Ridge, Summerfield, Colfax and to western Rockingham county.
On social media, people expressed excitement about saving precious minutes in the car during their daily travel.
Brandon Martin wrote on Facebook, “that will knock 10 minutes off my drive to and from work.”
Martin added it’s a 25-minute drive each way for him.
So, we decided to verify if this section will really be that much faster for folks.
With the help of NCDOT Senior Assistant Resident Engineer Bojan Cvijetic, we drove two routes. four times and timed each route. NCDOT allowed us to travel on the new section of road before it opens to the public.
For the first route, we started at the on ramp of Future I-73 in the western part of Greensboro. We headed up NC-68 to the Rockingham County line during rush hour traffic.
Total time: 23min 11sec
For the second route, we started at the Rockingham County Line and headed to the western part of Greensboro, again via NC-68, during rush hour traffic.
Total time: 17min 52sec
We then drove each route again, but this time, we took the new section of I-73.
For the first route, our new time: 13min 40sec
For the second route, our new time: 13min 45sec
So, yes, without the stop and go traffic on NC-68, without the red lights and intersections, you can save between five and ten minutes heading to and from Rockingham County from the western part of Greensboro during rush hour.
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