Woodruff Roaders – rejoice. Today, the City of Greenville is hosting the grand opening of Parallel Parkway, the road that runs parallel to Woodruff Road between Verdae Boulevard and Woodruff Industrial Lane. The road is expected to be one of Greenville’s most prominent thoroughfares, easing congestion along the Woodruff Road commercial corridor by ~7,500 cars per day.

Let’s get up to speed:

The idea for a connector road was initially conceived by Piedmont Natural Gas in 2016 so they could better dispatch their service trucks (hence the project previously being referred to as the PNG Connector). Construction on the project began in the summer of 2018 and the city’s Planning Commission established the name Parallel Parkway in April 2019.

The $3.4 million project is a prime example of a public-private partnership, funded by:

Piedmont Natural Gas

City of Greenville

Greenville County

Greenville Legislative Delegation Transportation Committee

Hollingsworth Funds and Verdae Properties

Magnolia Park Greenville

Parallel Parkway is also significant because it will tie into the larger Woodruff Road bypass project. The proposed ~2.5 mile bypass would be five lanes wide with six traffic circles + two bridges traversing I-185 and I-85. It’s estimated to cost approximately $121.2 million.

What you can expect:

Parallel Parkway is a .42 mile, two-lane roadway that connects several service streets via roundabouts.

The parkway has two single-lane roundabouts (one at Green Heron + one at Ketron Court) and one multi-lane roundabout (at Verdae Boulevard). If roundabouts *kinda* scare you – don’t worry. The City has published several videos (watch here) showing drivers how to best navigate these circular intersections.

Additional improvements to the area include construction of a right-turn lane on Woodruff Industrial Lane. The city also committed $410,000 as part of the project for the installation of 10 ft. wide paths and street lights (making the space more welcoming for pedestrians + cyclists).

So… what’s the big deal?

If you’ve driven Woodruff Road after 5 p.m., on the weekends, or around any major holiday – you probably know why this is such a big deal.

The traffic count for Woodruff Road stands at ~50,000 and the road is currently graded a level D or F in terms of congestion. The expected 7,500 cars routed off Woodruff Road per day is a ~15% reduction in traffic. For a road that’s less than one mile long, that’s a big deal.

Want to know more? Our team will be at the grand opening this morning, so keep an eye on our Instagram story for a first-hand look at the new road. Plus, Sarah will be doing a timed test to see how much of a difference the road makes. Details on that below.

Poll

Note: It took Sarah ~6 min. to drive to and from the same destinations at 5 p.m. using Woodruff Road.