Wingate Lassiter

"Wayfinding" is here at last --- with

a circuitous route to get Downtown

It seems like 10 years since the idea first came up here, but at long last Smithfield has joined numerous other towns and cities across North Carolina in erecting "wayfinding" signs directing visitors to key points of interest.

And our signs are indeed attractive --- and large! You can't miss 'em as you drive around town.

One sequence of the new signs has me puzzled: Why direct motorists leaving the Community Park and Smithfield-Selma High School westward onto the Durwood Stephenson Highway to reach "Historic Downtown" and the Ava Gardner Museum instead of the direct route via southbound Buffalo Road? That westward course doesn't even lead one onto Wilson's Mills Road. Instead, you're not sent back in the right direction until you reach US 70 Business!

Talk about going around your elbow to get to your thumb....

Not quite as circuitous but still a bit "out of the way" is the route from Bright Leaf Boulevard over to the Aquatics Center and Community Park. Instead of using original Booker Dairy Road, signs point you northward all the way to the new Booker Dairy Road Extension before directing you westward. That's a beautiful piece of new roadway worthy of showing off to visitors, and it's likely a safer course. But it's not the most direct route.

Wonder which way the GIS gadgets will send folks who don't know where they're going? My guess is that Google's routes won't follow some of our wayfinding signs.

Selma's "Santa Train" a preview of commuter rail?

The annual "Santa Train" promoted by Selma's Parks & Recreation Department ran last Saturday to Raleigh and back and, as usual, it was sold out --- with ticket prices at $55 for adults and $45 for children 12 and under.

The trainset was made up of two engines and seven coaches from a fleet owned by the State of North Carolina and operated by Amtrak on the Raleigh-Charlotte "Piedmont" trains (three round trips every day with more to come). It was a special charter, coming down empty from Raleigh, ferrying the riders to Raleigh and back to Selma, then returning empty to Raleigh.

Obviously, it's money maker.

And a great way for the NCDOT's Rail Division to show how commuter rail service could be run in our rapidly growing region.

It inspires me to come up with some appropriate lyrics in keeping with the Christmas season, based on the old tune made famous by Gene Autry, "Up On the Housetop":

    Down to the station with the kids because
    They're gonna ride with Santa Claus.
    North Carolina's Piedmont train
    Takin' them to Raleigh and back again.
    Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn't go?
    Ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn't go?
    Down to the depot quick quick quick;
    Hop on board and you'll greet St. Nick!

And if that's not enough to get you in the spirit of trains at Christmastime, here's a short video I made last Christmas Eve at Selma as the engineer of Amtrak's "Carolinian" pulled out of the station playing "Jingle Bells" on the horn>

Got a comment or a question?