TwinCity
Feb 20, 2004, 7:36 AM
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Alamance rejoins Triad designation
Metropolitan area barely beats out Raleigh-Durham for No. 2 spot in the state
By Wesley Young
JOURNAL REPORTER
We're No. 2!
Officials across the Piedmont Triad are cheering a decision Wednesday by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to put Burlington and Alamance County back into the Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point Combined Statistical Area.
The addition of Alamance County makes the Triad the second-largest metropolitan area in the state, a distinction that the Raleigh-Durham area had before the change was announced. Charlotte is the largest metropolitan area in the state.
Governments across the region had worked for months to change the designation. Alamance County had formerly been part of the officially designated metropolitan region, but last year the county was dropped.
"That is something that was really important to us and something we worked on from the moment we found out that Alamance and Burlington were not going to be included," said Randy Billings, the executive director of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments.
"Certainly the core of Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point and Burlington are part of our urban core. Urban commuting patterns support that. It is in the region's benefit to have them and to their benefit to be in the region," Billings said.
The addition of Alamance County's residents, estimated to number 136,000, raises the combined statistical area's population to 1.45 million, ahead of Raleigh-Durham, which has a population estimated at 1.4 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau.
The Triad will also move up in rank among metropolitan areas nationwide, Billings said.
"It improves our rank," he said. "Quite frankly that is part of the game. As the bigger companies look to regions they look to bigger regions. You like to be moved up ahead of your other competitors."
The federal government left Alamance out in the cold after Burlington leaders tried to get their city's name added to the official name of the metropolitan area, said Russ Smith, the assistant director of planning services for Burlington.
That effort failed, and the Office of Management and Budget left Burlington in a one-county metropolitan area of its own. Local officials decided that there was more strength in numbers.
"A lot of government agencies use those (areas) to come up with formulas to distribute funds," Smith said. "The concern was that with a smaller area we might get less money."
Alamance rejoins Triad designation
Metropolitan area barely beats out Raleigh-Durham for No. 2 spot in the state
By Wesley Young
JOURNAL REPORTER
We're No. 2!
Officials across the Piedmont Triad are cheering a decision Wednesday by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to put Burlington and Alamance County back into the Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point Combined Statistical Area.
The addition of Alamance County makes the Triad the second-largest metropolitan area in the state, a distinction that the Raleigh-Durham area had before the change was announced. Charlotte is the largest metropolitan area in the state.
Governments across the region had worked for months to change the designation. Alamance County had formerly been part of the officially designated metropolitan region, but last year the county was dropped.
"That is something that was really important to us and something we worked on from the moment we found out that Alamance and Burlington were not going to be included," said Randy Billings, the executive director of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments.
"Certainly the core of Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point and Burlington are part of our urban core. Urban commuting patterns support that. It is in the region's benefit to have them and to their benefit to be in the region," Billings said.
The addition of Alamance County's residents, estimated to number 136,000, raises the combined statistical area's population to 1.45 million, ahead of Raleigh-Durham, which has a population estimated at 1.4 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau.
The Triad will also move up in rank among metropolitan areas nationwide, Billings said.
"It improves our rank," he said. "Quite frankly that is part of the game. As the bigger companies look to regions they look to bigger regions. You like to be moved up ahead of your other competitors."
The federal government left Alamance out in the cold after Burlington leaders tried to get their city's name added to the official name of the metropolitan area, said Russ Smith, the assistant director of planning services for Burlington.
That effort failed, and the Office of Management and Budget left Burlington in a one-county metropolitan area of its own. Local officials decided that there was more strength in numbers.
"A lot of government agencies use those (areas) to come up with formulas to distribute funds," Smith said. "The concern was that with a smaller area we might get less money."