Piedmont Triad | |
|---|---|
   | |
| Nicknames: The Triad, PT, The 336 | |
 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  North Carolina |
| Largest city | Greensboro |
| Counties | Alamance Caswell Davidson Davie Forsyth Guilford Montgomery Randolph Rockingham Stokes Surry Yadkin |
| Area | |
| • Land | 15,420 km2 (5,954 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Total | 1,705,315 |
| GDP | |
| • MSA | $89.968 billion (2022) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| Area codes | 336, 443 |
ThePiedmont Triad (or simply theTriad) is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of theU.S. state ofNorth Carolina anchored by three cities:Greensboro,Winston-Salem, andHigh Point. This close group of cities lies in thePiedmont geographical region of theUnited States and forms the basis of theGreensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point, NCCombined Statistical Area (CSA). As of 2012, the Piedmont Triad has an estimated population of 1,611,243 making it the 33rd largest combined statistical area in the United States.[3]
Themetropolitan area is connected byInterstates40,85,73, and74 and is served byPiedmont Triad International Airport. Long known as one of the primary manufacturing and transportation hubs of thesoutheastern United States, the Triad is also an important educational, healthcare, and cultural region and occupies a prominent place in the history of the AmericanCivil Rights Movement.[4]
The Piedmont Triad is sometimes confused with theResearch Triangle, an adjacent urbanized region of North Carolina that includes the cities ofRaleigh,Durham and the town ofChapel Hill, among others. Both of them are part of thePiedmont Crescent, a heavily urbanized region of the state that includes the city ofCharlotte.
As part of a redefining of metropolitan areas by the US Census Bureau, the old Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area was broken up in 2003 into five separate areas—three Metropolitan Statistical Areas and twoMicropolitan Areas. In some ways, however, the region still functions as a single metropolitan area.[5]
| County | 2021 Estimate | 2020 Census | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guilford[6] | 542,410 | 541,299 | +0.21% |
| Forsyth[7] | 385,523 | 382,590 | +0.77% |
| Alamance | 173,877 | 171,415 | +1.44% |
| Davidson | 170,637 | 168,930 | +1.01% |
| Randolph | 145,172 | 144,171 | +0.69% |
| Rockingham[8] | 91,266 | 91,096 | +0.19% |
| Surry | 71,152 | 71,359 | −0.29% |
| Stokes | 44,553 | 44,520 | +0.07% |
| Davie | 43,533 | 42,712 | +1.92% |
| Yadkin | 37,192 | 37,214 | −0.06% |
| Total | 1,705,315 | 1,699,123 | +0.36% |
† Indicates municipalities in Montgomery and Caswell (counties usually locally included as part of Piedmont Triad)
The area is served byWinston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools,Rockingham County Schools,Alamance-Burlington School System,Caswell County Schools,Davidson County Schools,Randolph County School System, Stokes County Schools, Surry County Schools, Yadkin County Schools, andGuilford County Schools. The area is home to a number of religious schools, as well as a number of independent schools includingWesleyan Christian Academy,[24]Westchester Country Day School,High Point Friends School, andHigh Point Christian Academy[25] inHigh Point,Summit School[26] inWinston-Salem,Bishop McGuiness Catholic High School andForsyth Country Day School inLewisville,Greensboro Day School,New Garden Friends School,Caldwell Academy,Vandalia Christian School,B'nai Shalom Day School, and Greensboro Montessori School inGreensboro.[27][28]
More than 20 institutions of higher education are located within the Triad, including:
Three prominent boarding schools also call the Triad home:Salem Academy,Oak Ridge Military Academy, and theAmerican Hebrew Academy.
Major art and historical museums contribute to the cultural climate of the region, including theSoutheastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA), TheReynolda House Museum of American Art,Old Salem, High Point Historical Museum, Mendenhall Plantation, the Weatherspoon Museum of Modern Art (located on the campus ofUNCG),Blandwood Mansion and Gardens, the Greensboro Historical Museum,Guilford Battleground National Military Park, and the Charlotte Hawkins Brown State Museum. The area also has its fair share of scientific museums, such asSciWorks, theInternational Civil Rights Center and Museum, theWake Forest Museum of Anthropology, and theGreensboro Science Center. TheNorth Carolina Zoo, the world's largest open-air natural habitat zoo, is located just outside the Randolph County city ofAsheboro.
The economy in the Piedmont Triad is a mixed economy.[46]
The Triad area is notable for largetextile,tobacco, andfurniture corporations. The Triad remains a national center for textile manufacturing, represented by corporations includingHanes based inWinston-Salem,Glen Raven, Inc. based in Glen Raven, andInternational Textile Group, based inGreensboro. Tobacco remains a prominent crop in the Triad's rural areas and many tobacco companies likeLorillard Tobacco Company ofGreensboro andReynolds American, based inWinston-Salem, call the Piedmont Triad home. Numerous furniture manufacturers are also headquartered in the Triad area, especially in the cities ofHigh Point (deemed the "Furniture Capital of the World"),Thomasville (known as the "Chair City"), andLexington. The furniture and textile industries have in turn spawned large trucking, logistics, and warehousing businesses in the area. Popular brands like "Thomasville" and "Lexington" are derived from the names of these cities. Recently, however, many furniture and tobacco factories have been closing and/orlaying off workers across the region in response to escalating industrial globalization.
After many of the old industries in the area began to die out, many Piedmont Triad cities began encouraging technological businesses to move into the Triad.Winston-Salem, for instance, founded within its downtown thePiedmont Triad Research Park, now known asWake Forest Innovation Quarter, a highly interactive, 200-acre, master-planned innovation community developed to supportlife science andinformation technologyresearch and development.Dell, Inc., in the early 2000s struck a deal with local officials allowing for the construction of a new computer assembly plant near the Triad city ofKernersville. Dell pulled out of its contract with the city, however, and left after only a few years. Additionally,the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the largest institution of higher learning in the region, andNorth Carolina A&T State University have joined forces to establish the Gateway University Research Park, a technology-based entity that will focus its efforts on a host of biological, life, and environmental science research projects. Upon full build out of the project, it is expected to be housed by two 75-acre (300,000 m2) campuses, employ approximately 2,000 people, and generate $50 million per year to the Triad economy.LabCorp, one of the largest clinical laboratories in the world, has its corporate headquarters and several of its testing facilities inBurlington.
The following are the most prominent regional shopping centers/malls in the Piedmont Triad region:
The Triad is home to an extensivefreeway network, which is in the process of undergoing a major expansion. Four majorInterstate highways and numerous secondary Interstate routes andUS routes serve the region:
I-40, the primary east–west route across the region. In the eastern Triad, it is conjoined with I-85. The two routes split in Greensboro.
I-840 (Painter Boulevard), part of the Greensboro Urban Loop, currently under construction. When complete, I-840 will form the northern half of the loop.
I-73, the primary north–south route across the region, much of which has yet to be constructed. The route mostly carries portions ofUS 220 along it, with the exception of the portion along Bryan Boulevard, and another segment that shares the southwestern portion of the Greensboro Outer Loop, and was briefly designated asI-40 before its opening in February, 2008. This portion was originally designated asI-40, with the current and originalI-40 being re-designated as Business 40.
I-74, running across the region from southeast to northwest. Like I-73, much of the route has yet to be constructed, but several disjointed segments are currently open and signed as either I-74 or "FUTURE I-74". The route enters the region from the south conjoined with I-73, and diverges from there north of Asheboro toward High Point. The southern segment presently terminates at an intersection with I-40 east of Winston-Salem; new freeway is being built that will form the eastern segment of theWinston-Salem Beltway. The northern segment leaves US 52 in Mount Airy, heading northwest out of the region.
I-274, currently only in the planning stages, is the proposed designation for the western half of the Winston-Salem Beltway.
I-85, connects the region toCharlotte and points southwest. Enters from the east conjoined with I-40, and splits from that route in Greensboro.
I-285, connecting Winston-Salem to Lexington, is currently part of theUS 52 freeway being upgraded to Interstate standards.
I-785, connecting Greensboro toDanville, Virginia, the route is under development. It is currently part ofUS 29, much of which is not Interstate standard.
US 29 runs roughly northeast to southwest across the region. Most of the route is either concurrent with, or parallel to Interstate highways, including I-785 (when completed) and I-85 (parallel).
US 52 runs north–south through the region, serving as the main north–south freeway route through Winston-Salem. The entire freeway is planned for upgrade to Interstate standards. North of Winston-Salem most of the route is scheduled to become part of I-74 (until Exit 140 where existing I-74 starts and travels west along its own freeway, and US 52 continues north into town via expressway), while south of the city it is cosigned with I-285.
US 64 is an east–west highway through the southern Triad, connecting Asheboro, Lexington, and Mocksville.
US 70 is an east–west highway that closely parallels I-85 through the entire region.
US 158 runs roughly northeast–southwest across the region, terminating in Mocksville at US 601 and US 64, just south of I-40.
US 220 is currently the primary north–south route through Greensboro, and travels nearly symmetrically through the middle of the region; most of the route runs along I-73, except between Greensboro and Summerfield where it is named "Battleground Avenue" .
US 311 is a nominally north–south route that runs northeast–southwest between Danville, VA and Winston-Salem. The former alignment south of Winston-Salem has been fully signed as I-74; work has begun on US 311 signage removal on this alignment.
US 421 enters the region from the southeast, and joins I-85 in Greensboro. It then takes I-85 South to I-73 North to western Greensboro. The route is then co-signed with I-40 briefly. After leaving Greensboro, it continues westward through Winston-Salem, the rural area of Yakdinville, and continues into Wilkesboro.Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (PART) is the Triad's 10-county regional organization with the goal of enhancing all forms of transportation through regional cooperation. PART Express Bus provides express service to each major Triad city from Piedmont Triad International Airport, while Connections Express connects the Triad to Duke and UNC Medical Centers. PART also has Express Bus service to outlying counties that surround the Triad including Surry, Stokes, Davidson, Yadkin, and Randolph Counties and soon to be Davie County. PART is also administering and developing several rail service studies that include both commuter and intercity rail.[60]
The region is served by the Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC). The PTRC was formed by the merger of the Northwest Piedmont Council of Governments and Piedmont Triad Council of Governments on July 1, 2011. The PTRC is a membership organization of the 12 counties and 62 municipalities in the Triad region.[61]
The Piedmont Triad has severalprotected areas, which lay entirely or partly in the region:
The following are prominent newspapers in the Piedmont Triad region and the counties each newspaper covers.
All of the Piedmont Triad region belongs to the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point televisiondesignated market area (DMA). The following are stations that broadcast to this DMA. These stations are listed by call letters,virtual channel number, network and city of license.
35°57′21″N80°00′19″W / 35.9557°N 80.0053°W /35.9557; -80.0053
