Greensboro Urban Loop

A June 1948 document from the city Planning & Zoning Commission described the loop as part of "a comprehensive thoroughfare system for Greensboro." At one time, the road was a parkway similar to Wendover Avenue and named Painter Boulevard, but the city did not have enough money to build it, and federal help would require a road like an Interstate Highway.[3] It was named for Pennell Churchman Painter, the first city manager of Greensboro, serving from 1921 to 1929.[4]

Painter Boulevard appeared as a freeway loop in the 1967 City of Greensboro Transportation Plan. In June 1977, a thoroughfare plan (including what would become the Urban Loop) was adopted by the City of Greensboro, Guilford County and the North Carolina Board of Transportation. In July 1989, North Carolina Highway Trust Fund Law was enacted, which provides a trust fund for designated urban loops. By November 1989, an updated thoroughfare plan was approved by the city, county and state. Planning and environmental impact studies of the Urban Loop began in 1989-1990. In 1995, a Record of Decision was made approving the Greensboro Urban Loop; finalizing its routing and approval of a I-85 bypass. By this point, the Painter Boulevard name was no longer used.

In 2002, the first segment of the urban loop opened, a 2.21-mile (3.56 km) four-lane connector, today a part of I-785/Future I-840, between I-40/I-85 and US 70; it was unsigned and internally designated SR 3269. By 2006, Future I-840 trailblazers were added, though from I-40/I-85 it was only signed "To US 70." On February 21, 2004, the 12.9-mile (20.8 km) southeast segment of the urban loop opened. On completion, I-85 was rerouted onto it, leaving its old alignment through Greensboro as Business 85.[5] The southwest section between the present day I-73/US 220 interchange and the I-73/Bryan Boulevard interchanges opened in March 2008. I-73 was signed south of I-40, though north of I-40, I-73 and I-840 were unsigned. At the time, signs for each direction simply read "To I-40" and "To Bryan Boulevard."

The Urban Loop and its designations since January 2004 up to October 2008.

Upon completion of the southwest section, I-40 was rerouted onto the southern portion of the loop, sharing the route with I-73 to the west and I-85 to the east. The existing I-40 through Greensboro was redesignated Interstate 40 Business (Business 40). On September 12, 2008, after complaints by local residents about traffic noise and motorists on the confusion between I-40 and Business 40 through Greensboro, NCDOT officials received permission from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to reroute I-40 back through the city of Greensboro and decommission Business 40. This left I-40 on its original route, while US 421 was rerouted onto the Urban Loop where it remains today.

On July 31, 2013, NCDOT got approval from the FHWA to co-sign the eastern section of the Urban Loop (Future I-840) with I-785, establishing the new route in North Carolina,[6] though I-785 would not be signed until the completion of the segment of the loop between US 29 and US 70.

The next section to go to construction was part of the northwest section between I-73/Bryan Boulevard and US 220 (Battleground Avenue) in October 2013.[7] Next was the northeast section from US 29 to US 70 in 2014.[8] In October 2017, ahead of the completion of the northwest section and as a new section of I-73 opened,[9] both I-73 and I-840 were signed on the portion of the Urban Loop between I-40 and Bryan Boulevard, marking the first time I-840 was signed as a proper route.

The northeast section was completed in December 2017,[8] signed solely as I-785, at which point the designation was also signed on the eastern section of the loop between US 70 and I-40/I-85. The northwest section opened in March 2018, extending I-840 to US 220.[7] The next section, between US 220 and Lawndale Drive, opened on December 30, 2019.[10][11]