Kivett Drive Widening Nears Completion

By Paul B. Johnson, High Point Enterprise, N.C.

Sep. 15–HIGH POINT — Motorists trying to get to and from High Point from the east side of the city should have an easier drive staring this fall.

Crews for the N.C. Department of Transportation are putting the final touches on the widening of Kivett Drive from U.S. 311 to Business Loop Interstate 85. The work includes installing a new bridge for extra lanes along Kivett over Business I-85.

“We are optimistic that all lanes, including the bridge, will be open to traffic within the next couple weeks,” said Lisa Crawley, DOT spokeswoman in Raleigh. “Work remaining after the lanes open would include final project details like striping and signing.”

The upgrade to Kivett should help lessen congestion on S. Main Street, since the widened road offers another route into High Point from Business I-85, said Mark McDonald, city assistant director of transportation.

“When it was a two-lane road, it could get rathercongested. It just wasn’t an accessible, easy route to get into downtown,” he said.

City transportation officials also hope the wider Kivett Drive will aid travelers coming to the furniture market. The next High Point Market is Oct. 1-7.

“We hope we can get our market riders that are staying east of town to utilize that as a route into downtown,” McDonald said. “It will allow us to distributetraffic more evenly.” The widened Kivett also will boost the city’s economic development efforts, said Loren Hill, president of the High Point Economic Development Corp.

The widening of the road played into the decision by executives with RalphLauren.com, formerly Polo.com, to locate in the Kivett Drive Industrial Park, Hill said.

RalphLauren.com is preparing to open a distribution and customer service center off Kivett near U.S. 311. The company started training its initial employees at the new facility Monday and eventually will have at least 250 workers.

“It was a plus that the road was being expanded to five lanes from Business 85 to the U.S. 311 expressway … to better move goods to those two expressways and to improve access to the facility for its employees,” Hill said. Since the widening project began in the spring of 2005, the EDC has gotten increased interest from companies considering a location in the Kivett Drive commercialcorridor, Hill said.

pjohnson@hpe.com|888-3528

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