Winston-Salem - Drivers in Winston-Salem have grown familiar with road work along U.S. 52, and this road work will continue as the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) seeks to improve the flow of traffic through the area and prepare for the closing of parts of Business 40 in 2018.
Wednesday at 8:00 p.m., the Third, Fourth and Fifth street exit ramp at U.S. 52 South will be permanently closed.
NCDOT has already closed two other exits in the area to increase the capacity of U.S. 52, which will serve as a key detour route when U.S. 421/Business 40 is closed for up to two years to make improvements.
Pat Ivey, Division Engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation told News 2 the changes will make the roads safer and able to accommodate more traffic.
Ivey used a comparison to a neighborhood road to explain, saying, "It's the same thing even on a smaller road where you have lots of driveways on a curb road, the capacity on that road is less than if you had a controlled access highway."
Ivey went on to say, "Same thing with ramps, when you have ramps, there is always a slow down to get off, slow down for people trying to merge, that has the result of slowing down traffic. So, when you eliminate ramps, you increase capacity."