Silas Creek Parkway (Winston-Salem)

In 1946, the Silas Creek Parkway was first proposed. The highway was initially constructed to go from Robinhood Road to what is now Reynolds Boulevard. There were among other changes in routing before 1956 when it was finalized.[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 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 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. In 1963, there were major changes to the route, the parkway was being widened to four lanes all along its route and the at grade intersections at Stratford Road and Robinhood Road were reutilized to grade-separated interchanges improving congestion along its route. In 1968, the Bolton Street intersection was also reutilized to an interchange.[2]

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.[3] The bypass was completed in 1992 as a 1.7 mile partial controlled access highway and an extension of Silas Creek Parkway. Unlike the rest of the road, the extension uses the 50 MPH speed limit with new overpasses that carry Reynolda Road and Polo Road. On the extension, a new extension of Fairlawn Drive was built connecting the new extension with Reynolda Road giving drivers access to and from Reynolda Road from the new highway. The former northern terminus at Reynolda Road was turned into 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 through downtown to going onto Silas Creek Parkway between the junctions at Reynolda Road to Peters Creek Parkway (NC 150)[4][5]