Piedmont

Piedmont (/ˈpiːdmɒnt/ PEED-mont; Italian: Piemonte, pronounced [pjeˈmonte]; Piedmontese and Occitan: Piemont; French: Piémont) is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres (9,808 sq mi) and a population of about 4.6 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin.

Toponymy

The name Piedmont comes from medieval Latin Pedemontium or Pedemontis, i.e., ad pedem montium, meaning “at the foot of the mountains” (attested in documents of the end of the 12th century).

Geography

Piedmont is surrounded on three sides by the Alps, including Monviso, where the Po rises, and Monte Rosa. It borders with France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Aosta Valley and for a very small fragment with Emilia Romagna. The geography of Piedmont is 43.3% mountainous, along with extensive areas of hills (30.3%) and plains (26.4%).

Piedmont is the second largest of Italy's 20 regions, after Sicily. It is broadly coincident with the upper part of the drainage basin of the river Po, which rises from the slopes of Monviso in the west of the region and is Italy’s largest river. The Po collects all the waters provided within the semicircle of mountains (Alps and Apennines) which surround the region on three sides.

Piedmont (Greenwood, Virginia)

Piedmont is a historic home and farm located near Greenwood, Albemarle County, Virginia. The main house was built in two sections. The older sections is a two-story, three-bay, gable-roofed log half (now stuccoed), that was built possibly as early as the late-18th century. Attached perpendicular to the log section is a two-story, gable roofed brick half built in 1838. The house exhibits Greek Revival and Federal design details. Also on the property are a log smokehouse, log slave cabin and the ruins of a large stone chimney and hearth.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

References

Piedmont (train)

The Piedmont or Piedmont Service is a twice-daily passenger train operated by Amtrak and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) between Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina. Operation began in May 1995. North Carolina owns the rolling stock used on the Piedmont, unlike the Carolinian which uses Amtrak rolling stock.

History

North Carolina developed the Piedmont as a follow-on to the successful Carolinian, which had entered service in early 1990. Officials sought to add a second daily round-trip between Charlotte and Raleigh. In the fall of 1990, the board of transportation approved the acquisition of five used passenger cars and the leasing of two diesel locomotives. The board planned to have the second train enter service by early 1992.

The Piedmont (as the train came to be called) faced numerous delays. Norfolk Southern, which leased the track, insisted that the state construct a wye in Charlotte for turning the two trains around. At the time, the Carolinian had continued 10 miles (16 km) south to Pineville and turned around there. In 1993, the cost of the wye plus land purchase was estimated at $200,000; by late 1994, this grew to $695,000, plus $1.5 million for a maintenance facility in Raleigh. The Piedmont finally began operating on May 26, 1995.

2+2 road

A 2+2 road is a specific type of dual-carriageway being built in Ireland and in Sweden and in Finland, consisting of two lanes in each direction separated by a steel cable barrier.

These roads do not have hard shoulders and therefore they cannot be designated as Motorway at some future date. The Irish variant,however, has 3.5m lanes where there are a number of Swedish variants some with 3.25m wide lanes.

Junctions are generally at-grade roundabouts and minor roads cross under or over the mainline without connecting. They are also known as "Type 2 dual-carriageways" by the Irish National Roads Authority. These roads look similar to expressways, except that expressways often have interchanges, large medians or concrete barriers between traffic. The United States has 80,000 km of roads that fit this description.

First 2+2

The first road of this type opened in December 2007 as a new greenfield section of the N4 national primary route which joins Dublin to Sligo.

See also

List of highways numbered 44

The following highways are numbered 44.

Canada

Ontario Highway 44

India

National Highway 44 (India)

Israel

Iran

Road 44

Japan

Route 44 (Japan)

New Zealand

New Zealand State Highway 44

Thailand

Thailand Route 44

United Arab Emirates

E 44

United Kingdom

British A44 (Oxford-Aberystwyth)

United States

Interstate 44

U.S. Route 44

Alabama State Route 44

California State Route 44

Colorado State Highway 44

Delaware Route 44

Florida State Road 44

Georgia State Route 44

Hawaii Route 44

Idaho State Highway 44

Illinois Route 44 (former)

Indiana State Road 44

Iowa Highway 44

K-44 (Kansas highway)

Kentucky Route 44

Louisiana Highway 44

Maryland Route 44 (former)

M-44 (Michigan highway)

Minnesota State Highway 44

Mississippi Highway 44

Montana Highway 44

Nebraska Highway 44

Nevada State Route 44 (former)

New Jersey Route 44

New York State Route 44 (former)

• New York State Route 44A (former)

List of highways numbered 49

The following highways are numbered 49:

Canada

Highway 49 (Ontario)

India

National Highway 49 (India)

Iran

Road 49

Japan

Route 49 (Japan)

New Zealand

New Zealand State Highway 49

United Kingdom

British A49 (Ross on Wye-Bamber Bridge)

British M49 (Severn Beach-Avonmouth)

United States

Interstate 49

U.S. Route 49

Alabama State Route 49

California State Route 49

Connecticut Route 49

Florida State Road 49

Georgia State Route 49

Illinois Route 49

Indiana State Road 49

K-49 (Kansas highway)

Kentucky Route 49

Louisiana Highway 49

Maryland Route 49

Massachusetts Route 49

M-49 (Michigan highway)

Minnesota State Highway 49 (former)

Missouri Route 49 (former)

Montana Highway 49

Nevada State Route 49 (former)

New Hampshire Route 49

New Jersey Route 49

New York State Route 49

North Carolina Highway 49

North Dakota Highway 49

Ohio State Route 49

Oklahoma State Highway 49