Interstate 85

Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, near Richmond. It is nominally north–south as it carries an odd number, but it is physically oriented northeast–southwest and covers a larger east–west span than north–south. While most Interstates that end in a "5" are cross-country, I-85 is primarily a regional route serving five southeastern states: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

Major metropolitan areas served by I-85 include the Greater Richmond Region in Virginia, the Research Triangle, Piedmont Triad, and Charlotte metropolitan area regions of North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina, the Atlanta metropolitan area in Georgia, and the Montgomery metropolitan area in Alabama. There are plans to extend I-85 along the US Route 80 (US 80) corridor into Mississippi. Because of its unusually diagonal nature, portions of I-85 are to the west of I-75, which puts I-85 out of the Interstate grid.

Route description

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I-85 is a route that serves several major locations in the Southeastern United States, stretching from Alabama to Virginia serving major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta and Charlotte.

Alabama

I-85 begins as a T intersection off I-65 in Montgomery. From there, I-85 parallels US 80 until the highway nears Tuskegee. At Tuskegee, I-85 leaves US 80 and starts to parallel US 29, which the highway parallels for much of its length.

I-85 also passes near Auburn, Opelika, Valley, and Lanett before crossing the Chattahoochee River into Georgia.

I-85 is planned to be rerouted southward just east of Montgomery, where it will intersect with I-65 just south of downtown Montgomery and then have a future southern terminus at the concurrency of I-20/I-59 just northeast of Cuba. Future I-685 will be the new designation for the route of current I-85, which leads directly to I-65 in downtown Montgomery.

Georgia

In Georgia, I-85 (unsigned State Route 403 [SR 403]) bypasses West Point before coming into the LaGrange area. East of LaGrange, I-85 intersects I-185 which connects to Columbus and Fort Benning. In the Atlanta area, I-85 intersects I-20 and merges with I-75 (Downtown Connector) through the downtown area. North of Atlanta, I-985 provides a link to Gainesville before I-85 continues through northeastern Georgia and then crosses into South Carolina.

South Carolina

I-85 provides the major transportation route for the Upstate of South Carolina, linking together the major centers of Greenville and Spartanburg with regional centers of importance. In Spartanburg, BMW has a major manufacturing plant that can be seen from the highway. In South Carolina, I-85 bypasses Clemson and Anderson on the way to Greenville. Beginning at Anderson, I-85 widens from four to six lanes. Near Powdersville, US 29 joins I-85 and they run concurrently until they cross the Saluda River. I-85 bypasses just south of Greenville but provides two links into the city via spur routes I-185 and I-385.

I-85 also has direct exits to Greenville–Spartanburg International Airport, which serves the Greenville–Spartanburg metropolitan area. I-85 then bypasses the city of Spartanburg to the north. Its original route is now signed as I-85 Business (I-85 Bus) and was approved by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) on April 22, 1995. Near milemarker 70, I-85 intersects with I-26. The exits are signed as exits 70A for eastbound traffic and 70B for westbound traffic. North of Spartanburg, I-85 narrows from six lanes back to four lanes and continues inside Gaffney. Much of the terrain between Spartanburg and the North Carolina border is rural in nature but congested to the state line due to its location near Charlotte.

North Carolina

In North Carolina, I-85 enters a relatively rural area inside The Foothills of the state, surrounding Kings Mountain. The interstate enters into Gastonia, before entering into Charlotte. Inside Charlotte, I-85 is adjacent to the Charlotte Douglas International Airport and turns northeastward just before reaching Uptown Charlotte; thus, I-85 just traverses in the northern outskirts of uptown where it junctions with I-77. North of Charlotte, the highway goes in mostly the outskirts of the municipalities of Concord, Salisbury, Lexington, and High Point before reaching Greensboro.

I-85 continues in the southern outskirts of Greensboro, before I-40 merges onto it, when exiting Greensboro. The concurrent two routes are cosigned when they traverse south of the downtown areas of Burlington, Graham, and Mebane, before they separate in Hillsborough where I-40 turns toward Chapel Hill, Cary, and Raleigh. After the diversion with I-40, I-85 continues to Durham, before turning northeastward through Oxford then Henderson toward Virginia.

Virginia

Starting from the Virginia border, the route passes South Hill and McKenney before heading into a large forest. After the forest, I-85 reaches Petersburg and ends at I-95. The highway is briefly cosigned with US 460 from a few miles west of Petersburg in Dinwiddie County to I-95. I-85 follows the same general path as US 1 (Boydton Plank Road and Jefferson Davis Highway), as the two cross several times between the North Carolina border and the northern terminus outside Petersburg.

History

In the northern half of I-85, the route roughly parallels an ancient Indian trading path documented since colonial times from Petersburg, Virginia, to the Catawba Indian territory.

I-85 near Petersburg once formed the southern end of the Richmond–Petersburg Turnpike, which was completed in 1958. The tolls were removed in 1992 after I-295 was completed.

Before a 2010 decision to raise the speed limit in the state to , Virginia's portion of I-85 was also the only Interstate Highway in the state with a posted speed limit greater than . It was raised from on July 1, 2006, by the state legislature.

In 2004, I-85 was rerouted around Greensboro; and it split with I-40 east of the original departure point. I-40 ran with I-85 along the bypass to the southern/western end and I-40 continued on a new freeway alignment at exit 121 until September 2008, when it was rerouted back to its old alignment through the city. Despite its reroute around Greensboro, the overall length for I-85 in North Carolina remains the same as before.

On the evening of March 30, 2017 a massive fire collapsed a bridge on I-85 in Atlanta. As a result, I-85 was closed to traffic for approximately between its split with I-75 and the interchange with SR 400.

Major junctions Alabama in Montgomery in Montgomery. I-85/US 80 travels concurrently to Waugh. in Waugh in Auburn. The highway travels concurrently to Opelika. in Opelika. The highway travels concurrently through Opelika. in Opelika in Opelika in Valley Georgia in LaGrange near LaGrange in Grantville in Newnan near College Park in Atlanta in Atlanta. The highway travels concurrently through Atlanta. in Atlanta in Atlanta near Atlanta near Doraville near Buford near Jefferson near Commerce South Carolina north of Anderson north of Anderson northeast of Anderson. The highway travels concurrently to I-185. near Greenville in Greenville in Greenville in Greenville near Greer near Spartanburg near Spartanburg near Cherokee Springs near Grover, North Carolina North Carolina near Kings Mountain. The highway travels concurrently to US 74. in Kings Mountain in Gastonia in Charlotte in Charlotte in Charlotte in Concord. I-85/US 601 travels concurrently to Salisbury. in Salisbury in Salisbury. The highway travels concurrently to I-285. near Spencer. The highway travels concurrently to I-285. in Lexington southeast of Lexington near Archdale in Greensboro. The highway travels concurrently to I-73/US 421. in Greensboro. I-73/I-85/US 421 travels concurrently through Greensboro. in Greensboro in Greensboro in Greensboro. I-40/I-85 travels concurrently until reaching Hillsborough. in Eno. The highway travels concurrently to Durham. in Durham. I-85/US 15 travels concurrently to near Butner. I-85/US 501 travels concurrently through Durham. in Durham in Durham near Butner near Oxford in Oxford in Henderson. The highway travels concurrently through Henderson. in Henderson in Middleburg northeast of Manson Virginia near South Hill in South Hill near Sturgeonville near Petersburg. The highways travel concurrently to I-95. near Petersburg in Petersburg

Related routes

I-85 Bus in Lexington, High Point, and Greensboro, North Carolina. (Former designation) I-85 Bus in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I-185 to Columbus, Georgia. I-185 in Greenville, South Carolina. I-285 in Atlanta, Georgia. I-285 to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I-385 in Greenville, South Carolina. I-485 in Charlotte, North Carolina. I-585 to Spartanburg, South Carolina. I-785 in Greensboro, North Carolina. I-885 in Durham, North Carolina. I-985 to Gainesville, Georgia.

Interstate 85

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