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The Salem Parkway reconstruction project wins a national competition

Image courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The project that transformed Winston-Salem's Business 40 into Salem Parkway has won the Grand Prize in the 2021 America's Transportation Awards competition.

The 1.2-mile improvement project spearheaded by the North Carolina Department of Transportation involved safety upgrades, highway reconstruction, the replacement of 10 bridges, and the addition of two new pedestrian bridges.

The project involved a significant amount of agency collaboration and public outreach. The effort cost almost $102 million and was completed six months ahead of schedule.

According to a news release, the competition included 80 project nominations from 25 states.

The Grand Prize award includes a $10,000 cash prize which can be used to support a charity or transportation-related scholarship.

This is not the only time in October that the NCDOT was cited for achievement. North Carolina was one of two states that received a federal award for innovation across all modes of transportation.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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