Most meetings on the future of transportation corridors don’t involve a picnic; however, that’s exactly the setting that will be used by City of Greensboro officials who want to learn what residents have to say about what the future of the Randleman Road corridor should entail.

Randleman Road is a focus for the city for several reasons. It’s “a significant entrance into Greensboro, is home to a diverse array of commercial businesses surrounded by established neighborhoods.”

City officials note that the road itself is a key transportation and transit route for Greensboro.

The renovation project involves a 2.3-mile stretch of Randleman Road between I-40 and I-85.

Some concerns on the table are traffic safety, a lack of proper lighting making business owners feel unsafe, a need to improve curb appeal, and finding ways to encourage reinvestment in the sections of south Greensboro the road runs through.

City officials are also looking to find changes that will make general quality of life improvements along the corridor.

Those with ideas to share are invited to attend a picnic on Saturday, July 20. The event takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at New Goshen United Methodist Church, which, not surprisingly, is on Randleman Road – 3300 Randleman Road, to be exact.

At the picnic, City of Greensboro Planning Department staff will be all ears if you care to share your views regarding the coming development of the road and the area around it.

This is the second meeting the city has held for the Randleman Road Corridor project – which will be building on recommendations received earlier this year.

City officials already have a draft set of strategies for the new plan based on conversations and input from that first public input meeting in March.

Phase 2 of the Randleman Road Corridor Plan is expected to be completed sometime this fall.

Since this is a key entrance point to the city, Randleman Road can sometimes be the first thing a first-time visitor to Greensboro sees. And you only get one chance to make a good first impression. So, it’s clear why city officials want to spruce up the roadway and corridor and make it safer as well.

Many years ago, when the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament was being held at the Greensboro Coliseum, national sports media members were being housed at the Sheraton Greensboro Four Seasons and, each day, the reporters would take a media bus to the coliseum. At that time, it was High Point Road (now Gate City Boulevard) – another key city entrance point for travelers.

On the short bus trip to the coliseum, the national media members would see overgrown empty lots, a gun shop, a strip club the size of a mobile home, some dilapidated abandoned buildings and a Hooter’s. The sports reporters on the bus would often joke about the sights along the way and it was likely not the first impression that city leaders wanted the influential reporters from around the nation to have.

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