Silas Creek Parkway (Winston-Salem)

Silas Creek Parkway
Route information
History	Opened in 1961
Component; highways	NC 67 from Peters Creek Parkway to Reynolda Road;
Major junctions
North end	Bethabara Road/North Point Boulevard
	NC 67; US 421; US 158; NC 150; I-40;
South end	South Main Street
Location
Counties	Forsyth
Highway system
	North Carolina Highway System; Interstate; U.S.; State; Scenic;

Silas Creek Parkway is a partial loop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Despite the name suggesting that the whole route is a parkway, the road is like an expressway as it has multiple grade separated interchanges. However, like a boulevard, there is direct access to many adjacent properties and major locations, such as the Forsyth County Medical Center, Hanes Mall, Forsyth Tech, and Marketplace Mall. The section between the Stratford Road (US 158) and the Salem Parkway (US 421) interchanges is a freeway.

Route description

The road starts at the Main Street intersection as a boulevard. The road then passes the I-40 interchange which only gives access eastbound. NC 150 (which is routed onto Peters Creek Parkway) then meets with Silas Creek Parkway at an at-grade intersection where NC 67 is now on the road. This intersection gives access to I-40 westbound. Bolton Street then intersects the road at a folded diamond interchange. The road then heads to the Hanes Mall & Forsyth Medical Center area before heading at another folded diamond interchange with US 158 (Stratford Road). The road then downgrades to a freeway, passing the US 421 (Salem Parkway) cloverleaf interchange. The road then shortly downgrades back to a boulevard passing the Country Club Road folded diamond interchange. The road then passes the Nottingham Road grade-separated interchange (via Sherwood Forest Road). The road then meets Robinhood Road at an interchange. The road then passes the Reynolda Road and Polo Road grade-separation via (Wake Forest Road which gives access to Reynolda Road and Wake Forest University, Sunnynoll Road which gives access to Polo Road, and Fairlawn Drive which gives access to Reynolda Road) where NC 67 leaves the road and is now routed onto Reynolda Road and where the road becomes an expressway. The road ends at the North Point Boulevard/Bethabara Road which is near the Bethabara Historic District.

History

Beginnings

In 1946, Silas Creek Parkway was first proposed. There were several changes in routing before 1956 when it was decided.[1] On October 5, 1959, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (known as the State Highway Commission at the time) approved spending $500,000 to build a beltway on the outskirts of Winston-Salem. It would run between the what was then the new Forsyth Memorial Hospital and the Western Electric Company plant at Reynolda Road. The parkway would be ushering in suburban development on the western side of the city and pushing the city's borders west. The parkway opened on November 4, 1961. By 1963, the parkway was being widened to four lanes all along its route.[2] In 1968, the Bolton Street interchange was built. Silas Creek Parkway also connected to a road that would later be part of the Interstate 40 Bypass.

New Expressway extension

In 1985, The Polo Road-Reynolda Road Area Plan, prepared by the City-County Planning Board was adopted by the city-County Planning Board and the Winston-Salem Board of Winston-Salem Board of Aldermen following a public hearing. There was an endorsement of the proposed full extension of the Silas Creek Parkway adopted from the 1983 study, with a 1991/1993 implementation date. The extension was to bypass Wake Forest University It was also planned to build a new interchange with Reynolda Road on the extension.[3] The extension was completed in 1991. The extension had a mostly expressway grade with new overpasses with Reynolda Road and Polo Road and a new interchange to Reynolda Road southbound. The old northern terminus became another interchange to Reynolda Road. The new northern terminus was at the at-grade intersection with North Point Boulevard and Bethabara Road near Historic Bethabara. In 1994, NC 67 was rerouted onto Silas Creek Parkway between the Reynolda Road interchange and the Peters Creek Parkway intersection.

Future Improvements

The western segment of the Winston-Salem Northern Beltway, which will be signed as Interstate 274, will serve as a bypass for Silas Creek Parkway in the future.

Major junctions

The entire route is in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County.

mi	Destinations	Notes
	South Main Street	Southern Terminus
	I-40 – Greensboro
	NC 150 (Peters Creek Parkway)	Eastbound end of NC 67; at-grade intersection
	Bolton Street	Folded Diamond interchange
	US 158 (Stratford Road)	Folded diamond interchange
	US 421 (Salem Parkway)	Cloverleaf interchange
	Country Club Road	Two Quadrants Interchange; northbound via Tiseland Drive
	Robinhood Road	Interchange
	NC 67 west (Reynolda Road) / Polo Road	Grade-separated; access to Reynolda Road and Polo Road via Fairlawn Drive, Sunnynoll Court, or Wake Forest Road; westbound end of NC 67; Polo Road is unsigned. To Wake Forest University.
	North Point Boulevard / Bethabara Road	Northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

"Northwest Almanac: Early days of Silas Creek Parkway". Google Books.
Report, Journal Staff. "Northwest Almanac: Early days of Silas Creek Parkway". Winston-Salem Journal.
Silas Creek Parkway Completion, Winston-Salem: Environmental Impact Statement (in Esperanto). 1987. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-09-21.

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[Google_Books-1] "Northwest Almanac: Early days of Silas Creek Parkway". Google Books.

[wsjournal-2] Report, Journal Staff. "Northwest Almanac: Early days of Silas Creek Parkway". Winston-Salem Journal.

[Silas_Creek_Parkway_Completion-3] Silas Creek Parkway Completion, Winston-Salem: Environmental Impact Statement (in Esperanto). 1987. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-09-21.