North Carolina Interstate 85 Business
| I-85 Bus. | |||
| Get started | Lexington | ||
| End | greensboro | ||
| Length | 44 mi | ||
| Length | 70 km | ||
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According to watchtutorials, Interstate 85 Business is a Business Route of Interstate 85 in North Carolina. The route forms a 70-kilometer connection between near Lexington and near Greensboro. I-85 Business is double-numbered with other roads, primarily US 29, but also I-40, I-85, and US 52.
Travel directions
I-85 Business begins southwest of the city of Lexington, where Interstate 85 branches out of Charlotte onto a parallel route. The first few miles before Lexington coincides with US 52. This is a relatively modern freeway with 2×2 lanes. On the west side of Lexington, I-85 Business branches off and follows US 29 and US 70, a 2×2 lane expressway with grade separated connections but many substandard features. Along Lexington, I-85 Business is also double -numbered with US 64.
After Lexington, US 29/70 is a level divided highway with only incidental grade separations. However, this part is free-flow, there are no traffic lights, only irregular intersections. The expressway bypasses Thomasville to the north and continues through a wooded area with relatively many buildings. The passage through High Point is completely grade separated, although the interchange with Interstate 74 only goes through traffic lights. Both I-85 Business and I-74 intersect at grade separations. Between High Point and the merging with I-85 are two traffic lights.
The last part to Greensboro first coincides with Interstate 85 for a short while, this part has 2×5 lanes. At the interchange with Interstate 73, I-85 exits, after which I-85 Business only merges with US 29 and US 70. This portion to I-40 in Greensboro is a 2×3 lane freeway. From Downtown Greensboro, I-85 Business merges with Interstate 40 to its eastern interchange with the Greensboro Urban Loop, the city’s ring road.
History
According to Citypopulationreview, from the 1930s, a modern highway was developed between Charlotte and Durham, consisting of several diversions and 2×2 lanes, but it was not a real freeway. In 1938 a diversion of Kannapolis and China Grove opened. The Lexington bypass opened in 1949 and the Lexington-Thomasville section in 1952. The section between Thomasville, High Point and Greensboro was also completed in 1955. This was the first modern double-lane road in North Carolina, a state that was still rural in character at the time, the cities were still small at the time.
Later, Interstate 85 was built on the same corridor. The dual carriageway of US 29 between Charlotte and Greensboro proved unsuitable for reconstruction into Interstate Highway. That’s why I-85 was built parallel to US 29 in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1973, I-85 was “completed” in North Carolina, but was signposted as “Temp I-85” from 1961 between Lexington and High Point. Between 1980 and 1984, I-85 was built over a new route, parallel to US 29. When the new I-85 was opened, the old route was signposted as I-85 Business.
Later, the Greensboro Urban Loop was realized, a ring road around Greensboro, which opened in 2004 on the southeast side of the city. I-85 was then routed over this, the old route of I-85 through Greensboro has since been signposted as I-85 Business.
Traffic intensities
Every day, 29,000 to 36,000 vehicles drive the portion that coincides with US 52 on the west side of Lexington, then 20,000 to 22,000 vehicles drive on the Lexington Bypass, 15,000 vehicles between Lexington and Thomasville, and 18,000 vehicles between Thomasville and High Point. The High Point bypass has 22,000 to 27,000 vehicles per day and 22,000 to 32,000 vehicles daily on the section between I-74 and I-85 at High Point.
The second section at Greensboro has 43,000 to 48,000 vehicles between I-73 and I-40, 134,000 vehicles along Greensboro, and 68,000 to 73,000 vehicles east of Greensboro to the Greensboro Urban Loop.
Interstate 885 in North Carolina
| I-885 | |||
| Begin | Durham | ||
| End | Durham | ||
| Length | 12 mi | ||
| Length | 19 km | ||
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Interstate 885 or I -885, also known as the East End Connector, is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. I-885 forms the east bypass of Durham and is 12 miles long.
Travel directions
Interstate 885 begins as NC-885 toll road in Triangle Research Park at an interchange with State Route 540, which forms Raleigh ‘s beltway. The highway heads north in 2×3 lanes through Research Triangle Park, a large office park in the woods between Raleigh and Durham. There is a junction with Interstate 40, after which the route enters the city of Durham as Interstate 885. In south Durham, I-885 exits and State Route 147 continues straight as a freeway through downtown Durham. I-885 then forms Durham’s eastern bypass, with an interchange with US 70 and a terminus at Interstate 85 on the northeast side of Durham.
History
Interstate 885 was created in 2022 when the East End Connector was completed and existing State Route 147 and US 70 were renumbered as I-885.
The northern portion of the East End Connector was constructed as part of US 70, between Miami Boulevard and I-85. Originally both the NC-147 and the East End Connector were part of the same project, a decision was made in 1982, but in the end there was only money for the NC-147. However, a junction between the NC-147 and the East End Connector has always been considered.
The original portion of the East End Connector is believed to have opened in this area at the same time as I-85, circa the early 1960s. This was called the US 70 Bypass Route and was little more than a spurfrom I-85, the interchange with I-85 was only accessible to and from the west at the time, and there was only a connection with Holloway Street before the freeway became US 70 (Miami Boulevard). A connection with Geer Street was added in the 1990s, which was canceled again with the conversion of the interchange with I-85 in the period 2002-2005. As an alternative, the connection with Cheek Road was constructed around 2002. Originally, the East End Connector was signposted as the US 70 Bypass. The number I-885 appeared on engineering drawings (signage plan) of the project and was later approved for the entire route between I-40 and I-85 along the east side of Durham. It then extended further south to I-540/SR-540, where the toll road section was numbered as the ‘Toll NC-885’.
The southern section was originally constructed as State Route 147, a freeway through downtown Durham and connecting to Research Triangle Park. NC-147 was built from Durham to Interstate 40 southeast of Durham in 1974. On December 8, 2011, a southerly extension opened as a toll road between I-40 and I-540, North Carolina’s first toll road.
With the extension of the East End Connector to the SR-147 (3 km), the number I-885 has been assigned to the new and existing East End Connector. The project began in September 2014 and cost $182 million. The formal ‘groundbreaking’ was on April 22, 2015. The completion of the project has been pushed back several times, originally the highway was to be opened in 2019, but has been delayed. On October 23, 2020, 4 kilometers of the new highway opened on the section that coincides with US 70 in Durham. The section between State Route 147 and US 70 on the southeast side of Durham finally opened on June 30, 2022.
Opening history
| van | nasty | length | datum |
| US 70 | I-85 | 3,9 km | 00-00-196x |
| I-40 | SR-147 | 8,4 km | 00-00-1974 |
| I-540 | I-40 | 5,0 km | 08-12-2011 |
| US 70 | US 70 | 0,5 km | 23-10-2020 |
| SR-147 | US 70 | 1,5 km | 30-06-2022 |
Tol
The southernmost portion of State Route 147 between I-40 and NC-540 is a toll road called the Triangle Expressway. The toll collection is fully electronic, the local transponder NC Quick Pass is accepted, as well as SunPass and E-ZPass.
Traffic intensities
12,000 to 15,000 vehicles drive daily on the toll road section between I-540 and I-40 in Research Triangle Park. After that, 55,000 to 60,000 vehicles will drive as far as SR-147 in south Durham. On the northern end of I-85 there are 45,000 vehicles per day.
