New Salem.

AuthorRakestraw, Emory
PositionNC TREND: Triad Region

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Can an aging, much-maligned 57-year-old downtown expressway become an attractive asset for a city that wants to be known for its creativity? Winston-Salem will find out over the next three years as a public-private partnership improves a stretch of Business 40, now rebranded as Salem Parkway. The goal is to accelerate the momentum of the city's downtown, which has come alive with more than $1 billion of investment in medical and research buildings, hotels, art galleries, restaurants and bars.

The N.C. Department of Transportation, along with federal and local governments, is investing $100 million to improve Business 40's pavement and ramps by 2020. What makes the Twin City effort unusual is $5 million in private funding to pay for distinctive bridges, arches, landscaping and lighting--the "nice to have" stuff that rarely gets built.

Community leaders, including former Old Salem Museums & Gardens CEO Lee French, started discussing the project more than a decade ago, with the nonprofit Creative Corridors Coalition getting serious about moving forward in 2011, says Kristen Haaf, the group's chairwoman.

The move addresses a curvy stretch of the freeway with complicated access points and rusty bridges that have long frustrated commuters, who often have to stop before entering the highway as cars in adjoining lanes roar past. Business 40 long ago became a stepchild to Interstate 40...

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