Will improve driver safety and
help traffic flow more efficiently
RALEIGH
-The
N.C. Department of
Transportation will permanently close the entrance ramp from Fifth Street
onto U.S. 52 North in Winston-Salem on Monday, Feb. 18, at 9 a.m., after rush
hour traffic subsides. The closure is part of an effort to streamline traffic
flow on the highway, which will help improve motorist safety and reduce
congestion.
NCDOT already has permanently closed the other entrance and exit
ramps at Third, Fourth and Fifth streets and U.S. 52 South, as well as the exit
ramp from U.S. 52 North onto Third Street.
The closures are allowing crews to construct an additional lane on
U.S. 52 in each direction from U.S. 421/Business 40 to Martin Luther King Jr.
Drive. Eliminating the ramps and adding a new acceleration lane will help
alleviate traffic delays and reduce crashes on the highway, which carries
80,000-90,000 vehicles a day.
This closure is part of the U.S.
52 Improvement Project, which includes streamlining and repaving one-half mile
of U.S. 52 from U.S. 421/Business 40 to Akron Drive and improving part of
Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Winston-Salem. The $13.1 million project is
scheduled to be complete early summer.
The department urges motorists to "know before you go" about
traffic conditions around U.S. 52. For real-time travel information at any
time, call 511, visit www.ncdot.gov/travel
or follow NCDOT on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ncdot_triad.
Another option is NCDOT Mobile, a phone-friendly version of the
NCDOT website. To access it, type "m.ncdot.gov" into the browser of your
smartphone and bookmark it for future reference. NCDOT Mobile is compatible
with the iPhone, Android and some newer Blackberry phones.
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