The year 2021 will soon be over and another year will have passed where the absurd traffic pattern on Greene Street in downtown Greensboro has remained unchanged.
I can’t count the number of times during the past 15 years that mayors, city councilmembers and directors of the Greensboro Department of Transportation (GDOT) have told me that Greene Street would be a two-way street before the end of the year.
Keith Holliday, who was mayor of Greensboro from 1999 to 2007, in his last term said that one of his goals before leaving office was to finally get Greene Street returned to a two-way street.
President of Downtown Greensboro Inc Zack Matheny, when he was on City Council from 2007-2015, worked on getting Greene Street returned to a two-way street. As president of DGI, Matheny has continued to lobby for bringing some sanity to the traffic pattern downtown. But Matheny has had no more success as president of DGI than he had as a city councilmember in having Greene Street returned to a two-way street.
So Greene Street remains the way it has been for years. North Greene is a two-way street from Fisher Park to Bellemeade Street.
South Greene Street is two ways to Washington Street. Greene Street between Washington Street and Bellemeade Street is one way going south.
It is a mindboggling traffic pattern and one explanation for why it exists is that it facilitates Lincoln Financial employees leaving the company parking deck on Greene Street at the end of the workday. At one point, it was said that what was then Jefferson-Pilot didn’t want to spend the money to have the entrance and exits altered for two-way traffic on Greene. However, years ago the city reportedly agreed to cover that cost and that evidently wasn’t the problem because Greene Street remains a two-way-one-way-two-way street.
One aspect of the bizarre traffic pattern that doesn’t get mentioned enough is that it is dangerous, because some visitors to downtown Greensboro miss the signage and continue north on the portion of Greene Street that is one way going south.
Someone with more clout than mayors and city councilmembers must find this weird traffic pattern pleasing, because despite the efforts of elected officials it never changes.
Since the downtown location of Lincoln Financial has shut down except for a few employees, I dont see where they would have a say so. If they ever reopen and return the employees to work, then that may be a consideration.
The Left despises and resents the private automobile because it represents individual freedom. They’d prefer treating us like sheep and herding us onto “public transportation” – i.e. government transportation. Instead of beginning your journey from your front door, leaving whenever you like, taking whatever route you choose, stopping wherever you wish, and doing it all at your own pace, you will be instructed when you must leave, from a departure point that will be dictated to you, to a destination they determine, with no stops – except those they approve of – and you will be grateful for this “service”, which will cost taxpayers a fortune.
And that is how the Parasitic Sector works.
You sound crazy and stupid! What does a one way street has to do with people having private cars? The only people that ride the bus are low income people that can’t afford a decent car to drive or college students from out of town that doesn’t have a car. Talk about sheep, it’s the right that blames every other race and religion for their problems. Never taking ownership for anything. You try to tell women how to run their bodies, you try to tell people who they can marry and you try to stop folks from voting. Where are your jobs and entertainment in the rural right counties. You have to drive and move to the bigger cities to work and play, but then complain about the city people. If it wasn’t for the left, we would be dry and run down as the rural areas.
You will find that most here ignore comment about the great job opportunities the current democratic leadership has help bring to Greensboro such as Toyota, Amazon, Boom, etc… They just rant and rave about socialism, communism etc… as sheep following the talking points fed to them by their right wing media nutters.
Keep preaching the truth! You won’t change the mind of the nutters like Austin but you can provide a counter argument for better people to consider. Plus it is fun to watch them rant and rave like the sheep that they are.
Bureaucrats really do run the city. County. State. Federal. Once you have a critical mass of them, they do their own thing. Many years ago, New Zealand passed a law requiring the bureaucrats running each program to show the legislature how it was achieving its legislated goals. If it was not meeting those goals, the program was defunded. The sheep/lamb industry subsidies got defunded, forcing the industry to stand on its own. The result was the ranchers figured out how to raise excellent lamb and the result was a worldwide demand for New Zealand lamb. And lots of income for the ranchers.
Well said Walt! That is the mindset of the old school conservative that I wish would become top priority again versus the current republican messaging BS about CRT being the big issue at hand!
Let’s bring back leaders who truly care about actual results versus BS emotional messaging and voter manipulation.
John, Thanks for highlighting the Greene Street situation. Even more bizarre is the fact that our downtown road system was developed in the 1950s and 1960s with the idea that there would be 10,000 plus downtown office workers arriving between 8:00 and 9:00 am and departing around 5:00 each weekday. To handle thousands of potential office workers, we built 4 to 5 lane one way roads through our downtown. The reality is that we have a much more diverse downtown with a mix of retail, entertainment, residential and approximately only 1,500 office workers. Two lane streets could easily handle the mix of traffic in our downtown without congestion. The additional area gained from the lane closer could go toward increasing sidewalk widths. The 4 and 5 lane one way streets have become drag strips. “Highways” Friendly and Market promote street racing that I witness daily. This is a very dangerous situation. I have mentioned this to GDOT engineers and council people over the years to no avail. We need to put our downtown streets on a “Lane Diet” and make our downtown safer for all. Have a Great New Year Greensboro.
Would love to see more changes such as this Greene St situation open up more retail opportunities on the north side of Elm street. It is thinking such as what you point that has made downtown Greensboro such an improvement from what it was in the early and mid 90s. Still so much more potential left.