Silas Creek Parkway (Winston-Salem)

Silas Creek Parkway is a corridor located in Forsyth County. The parkway is the partial loop, which encircles around several of the central areas of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The route is the expressway spur between Bethabara Road to Salem Parkway (US 421), serving Wake Forest University and Northern Forsyth County. The stretch between Salem Parkway to Chelsea Street, is the hybrid of boulevard and expressway. While between Chelsea Street to South Main Street, the parkway is boulevard grade. The section south of Salem Parkway is also adjacent to Hanes Mall, Forsyth Medical Center, and Forsyth Tech.

Silas Creek Parkway
Route information
Length	9.4 mi (15.1 km)
Component highways	NC 67 from Peters Creek Parkway to Reynolda Road
Major junctions
North end	Bethabara Road/North Point Boulevard
Major intersections	US 421 (Salem Parkway) US 158 (Stratford Road) NC 150 (Peters Creek Parkway) I-40
South end	South Main Street
Location
Country	United States
State	North Carolina
Counties	Forsyth
Highway system
North Carolina Highway System Interstate US State Scenic

Route description

The route starts at an intersection with Main Street as a four-lane arterial route, in the south outskirts of Downtown Winston-Salem. Continuing in an east-west alignment, the parkway follows parallel with Interstate 40, which features two small ramps connecting with I-40 in both directions of Silas Creek Parkway. With the route continuing, it transforms into a divided boulevard, entering into the suburban districts further into the outskirts of Downtown, meeting with an intersection with Peters Creek Parkway (NC 150). It is in this vicinity, NC 67, in its eastern terminus, begins its concurrency with Silas Creek Parkway. Direct access to Forsyth Technical Community College is present, shortly after traversing the district. South of the Ardmore district, the parkway comes to the intersection with Chelsea Street, where it becomes an expressway. The parkway enters into the Hanes Mall district, upon having a folded diamond interchange with Bolton Street, which leads to the retail located in the district. The parkway comes to the at-grade intersection with Hanes Mall Boulevard, where the parkway comes to the mall and Forsyth Medical Center. The expressway continues, with the interchanges with Stratford Road (US 158) and Salem Parkway (US 421). Leaving the Hanes Mall district, is the exit to Country Club Road. The Parkway skirts the western edges of the Buena Vista district, coming to the exit with Robinhood Road. The parkway approaches the Wake Forest University campus, with the exit to Reynolda Road giving direct access. NC 67 leaves the parkway here, heading west and crossing over the parkway. Silas Creek Parkway continues north inside the rural forestry landscape, until it terminates with the intersection with Bethabara Road, which leads to the titular Historic District. The Parkway continues along North Point Boulevard, with the section being the four-lane expressway which connects Silas Creek Parkway to University Parkway, leading to the LJVM Colisuem and the areas further into the northern areas of Forsyth County.

History

Initial plans

In 1946, the Silas Creek Parkway was first proposed. The parkway was initially constructed to run from Robinhood Road to what is now Reynolds Boulevard. There were among other changes in routing before 1956 when it was finalized.

Early construction

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 partial loop 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 considered to 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, originally, mostly a two-laned boulevard, which was built in what was then, the western outskirts of Winston-Salem. In 1963, the parkway was widened to be a four-lane expressway in more stretches, with the at-grade intersections with Stratford Road and Robinhood Road, rebuilt to grade-separated interchanges. In 1968, the Bolton Street intersection was also reutilized to an interchange. The Parkway is named after the nearby and parallel nearby creek, located on the west edges of the Buena Vista district.

Since completion

Silas Creek Parkway Southbound

During the 1980s, there were several major changes to the route. In 1988, Corporation Parkway which was a route in the city became an extension of Silas Creek Parkway. Also, there was an area plan 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 a new bypass of the Wake Forest University campus and areas surrounding the campus. Silas Creek Parkway adopted the 1983 study, which was planned to be finished between 1991 and 1993. The bypass was completed in 1992 as a 1.7-mile (2.7 km) freeway. Fairlawn Drive was extended to connect to the new extension with Reynolda Road, giving drivers access to and from Reynolda Road from the new highway, with the Fairlawn Drive creating the only intersection on the freeway The extension had traversed inside, what was then, the northern outskirts of the city, with the previous northern terminus at Reynolda Road reutilized into a Y-Junction, using the name Wake Forest Road. Junction signs to Reynolda Road were installed southbound at Fairlawn Drive and in both directions at Wake Forest Road. In 1995, NC 67 was rerouted from going inside the center of downtown Winston-Salem, into going onto Silas Creek Parkway between the junctions at Reynolda Road to Peters Creek Parkway (NC 150), with the intersection with Peters Creek Pkwy, being what is now-considered to be in the southern outskirts of Downtown Winston-Salem. The extension built northwest of Wake Forest University, would eventually receive new development alongside the roadway, slightly downgrading to expressway standards. The interchange with Stratford Road (US 158) had since experienced subtle ramp modifications in the last sets of decades, including the bridge being renovated in 2013, while the bridge over Salem Parkway being rebuilt around 1997, alongside the same bridge being renovated in 2022.

Future

Silas Creek Parkway had been subject to the recent-development of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. The areas located miles west of the parkway had since been heavily annexed into the City of Winston-Salem, and the overall areas had been in the consideration of the need of a nearby high-speed corridor. In more recent years; the parkway had been reported to feature a notable increase in drivers, including drivers commuting at high-speeds, even beyond the current speed limit in the expressway stretch of the parkway. The corridor, which was previously built as a continuous arterial boulevard also, is also currently redeveloped as a cross-county expressway, that connects to both the residential and rural areas in the north, to the developed and downtown-adjacent areas to the south, with the southern boulevard stretch being subject to the growth of the central districts of Winston-Salem. The cross-county expressway status comes from the growth of the city and county. The two bridge structures, which carries Silas Creek Parkway over Salem Creek, is scheduled to be rebuilt, with construction slated to begin in 2027. In result, drivers are detoured to use Hanes Mall Blvd, I-40, and Peters Creek Parkway to avoid construction. This will also allow the previously-billed I-40 "Bypass," to be used under more city traffic. The interchange with Robinhood Road is scheduled to also be rebuilt and also to began construction in 2027, alongside considerations to rebuild the Country Club Road exit. In 2020, the junction signs with the Salem Parkway exit, removed the "Downtown" directory which was on the previous signs. This indicated of how Silas Creek Pkwy had been annexed into the city in more recent years. While not "completely" related; the western stretch of the Winston-Salem Northern Beltway will traverse parallel with Silas Creek Parkway, and will feature several of the same exits which are features on Silas Creek Parkway.

Major junctions

The entire route is in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County. All exits are unnumbered.

mi	km	Destinations	Notes
0.0	0.0	South Main Street	At-grade intersection, Southern Terminus
0.5	0.80	I-40 east to US 52 – Greensboro
1.0	1.6	NC 150 (Peters Creek Parkway) / NC 67 ends to I-40	Eastbound end of NC 67; at-grade intersection
3.0	4.8	Bolton Street	Folded diamond interchange
3.3	5.3	Hanes Mall Boulevard	At-grade intersection
3.9	6.3	US 158 (Stratford Road)	Folded diamond interchange
4.4	7.1	US 421 (Salem Parkway)	Cloverleaf interchange, US 421 exit 237
5.0	8.0	Country Club Road	Two Quadrants Interchange; northbound via Tiseland Drive
6.6	10.6	Robinhood Road	Right-in/right-out interchange
7.5	12.1	NC 67 west (Reynolda Road) – Wake Forest University	Westbound end of NC 67; interchange with connector roads (Wake Forest Road and Fairlawn Drive).
9.3	15.0	Bethabara Road / North Point Boulevard	At-Grade Intersection, Northern terminus, Continuation as North Point Boulevard.
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi