Dec. 8—JAMESTOWN — Since it first appeared on transportation planning documents in the 1980s, the proposed road around Jamestown connecting High Point and Greensboro has been commonly referred to as the Jamestown Bypass.

But now that the road opened to motorists this week, the name of the newest thoroughfare in the area has become Jamestown Parkway.

The formal name for the road had been planned. This past March, the city of High Point agreed to align the name of its section of the road as Jamestown Parkway, said Greg Venable, city of High Point transportation director.

"We felt it was appropriate to stay consistent with the name," he said.

Jamestown Parkway extends 3.5 miles, from Interstate 74 in High Point to Vickrey Chapel Road near Greensboro.

Although the new road opened Saturday, N.C. Department of Transportation officials said that work remains on the project and should be completed by the middle of next year. DOT officials have said the contract price for the project is $56 million.

Construction began on the roadway in September 2018. The four-lane parkway is meant to hasten traffic through Jamestown between High Point and Greensboro and reduce congestion on Main Street in Jamestown. The new roadway roughly parallels the existing two-lane Greensboro Road in east High Point and Main Street through Jamestown.

High Point transportation officials expect Jamestown Parkway to alleviate some of the congestion on roads in the northern and northeastern parts of the city. The parkway also should help with traffic flow during the spring and fall High Point Market home furnishings trade shows.

"It provides another connection from High Point to Greensboro," Venable told The High Point Enterprise. "It's another east-west connection in the area."

The bypass could lessen some of the traffic on heavily traveled Wendover Avenue, Venable said.

"Wendover has been the only main east-west connection already in place," he said.

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul