Interstate 85

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Interstate 85
Main route of the Interstate Highway System

Length:

668 mi (1075 km)

South end:

I-65 in Montgomery, AL

Major
junctions:

I-75 in Atlanta, GA

I-20 in Atlanta, GA

I-26 near Spartanburg, SC

I-77 in Charlotte, NC

Future I-73 in Greensboro, NC

I-40 from near Greensboro, NC to near Durham, NC

North end:

I-95 in Petersburg, VA

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Interstate 85

Interstate 85 (abbreviated I-85) is an interstate highway in the southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with Interstate 65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus intersects with Interstate 95 in Petersburg, Virginia, near Richmond (Map).

An addition to Interstate 85 is planned which will extend from Montgomery, Alabama to just east of the Mississippi state line.^[1]

1 Length
2 Major cities
3 Intersections with other interstates
4 Auxiliary routes
- 4.1 Business routes
5 Notes
6 External links
7 See also

[edit] Length


Miles	km
80	130	Alabama
180	292	Georgia
106	172	South Carolina
233	377	North Carolina
69	112	Virginia

668	1,082	Total

[edit] Major cities

Cities listed in bold print are officially-designated control cities for signs.

Interstates 85/40 through Burlington, NC.

[edit] Intersections with other interstates

Interstate 65 in Montgomery, Alabama
Interstate 185 near LaGrange, Georgia (Spur to Columbus, Georgia).
Interstate 285 in Atlanta, Georgia (Atlanta Bypass; I-85 intersects this highway twice).
Interstate 75 in Atlanta (concurrent through downtown)
Interstate 20 in Atlanta
Interstate 985 near Lawrenceville, Georgia. (Spur to Gainesville, Georgia).
Interstate 385 in Greenville, South Carolina
Interstate 185 in Greenville
Interstate 26 in Spartanburg, South Carolina
Interstate 585 in Spartanburg (via I-85 Business Loop, though an extension is planned)
Interstate 485 in Charlotte, North Carolina (I-85 intersects I-485 twice)
Interstate 77 in Charlotte, North Carolina
Interstate 40 in Greensboro, North Carolina. They stay connected until Hillsborough, North Carolina.
Future Interstate 73 in Greensboro
Interstate 95 in Petersburg, Virginia (Map)

[edit] Auxiliary routes

	edit Auxiliary routes of Interstate 85
	Current and Future (F)	Former
	Georgia - South Carolina
	Georgia - North Carolina (F)
	South Carolina
	North Carolina	Georgia
	South Carolina
	North Carolina-Virginia (F)
	Georgia

[edit] Business routes

[edit] Notes

The former Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike formed the northernmost portion of Interstate 85 near Petersburg, Virginia when completed in 1958. The tolls were removed in 1992.

Interstate 85 has also been rerouted on four different occasions: in northeastern Atlanta, north of Spartanburg, South Carolina, near High Point, North Carolina, and around Greensboro, North Carolina. The former I-85 in Atlanta is now part of State Route 13, and the other three reroutings have produced three Business Loops; the High Point/Lexington one is not built to freeway standards, and was signed as Temporary I-85.[2] Additionally, a portion of I-85 southwest of Atlanta was rerouted - and the old roadbed removed - in order to accommodate an expansion of Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport in the early 1980s.

In Georgia, I-85 is designated - but not signed - as State Route 403.

The Peachoid, a water tower serving the town of Gaffney, South Carolina, can be seen for several miles on I-85. The structure is so named because it resembles a peach; in addition, it is a tribute to the fact that South Carolina is the nation's leading producer of peaches.

Future Interstate 785 is currently planned from Greensboro, North Carolina to Danville, Virginia; along the current U.S. Highway 29 route.

Future Interstate 285 is also planned to follow part of the U.S. Highway 52 freeway from Lexington to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In North Carolina, I-85 merges with I-40 from Greensboro to Hillsborough, just west of Durham. In Alamance County, the highway is also known as the Sam Hunt Freeway. Because I-85 was recently rerouted around Greensboro, it splits with I-40 eight miles (13 km) east of the original departure point. This is only temporary though. When the southern portion of the Greensboro Urban Loop is completed, I-40 will be rerouted around Greensboro also, which will extend the concurrency 12 miles (19 km) from the current split. Despite its reroute around Greensboro, the overall length for I-85 in North Carolina (233 miles/373 km) remains the same as before.

Through downtown Atlanta, I-85 merges with I-75 for a short time. This strip of highway, called the Downtown Connector, is infamous for its bad traffic, and rather confusing split at the north end. The northbound lanes split and then cross over each other. Thus, to head northeast (rightward) on I-85, a driver must be in the leftmost northbound lanes before the split. To head northwest (leftward) on I-75, a driver must be in the rightmost northbound lanes before the split.

Interstate 485 was supposed to have been an east-west connector route in the Atlanta area, but it was erased due to community opposition. Part of what would have been I-485 is now GA 10. I-485 was, according to the 1972 Atlanta Regional Transportation Plan, originally supposed to connect with I-420, a spur of I-20 that would have gone north, crossing I-285 (completed in 1968) and eventually going as far north as Dahlonega, Georgia. Only the stretch north of I-285 was originally built (being called Georgia SR 400 or simply Georgia 400), with an extension south to I-85 opening in 1993. The SR 400/I-85 connection still lacks southbound-to-northbound ramps.

There is currently a plan to extend I-85 across western Alabama, where it will connect with I-20 near Cuba, Alabama. This extension is in the planning stages. This extension will roughly follow the route of US-80 via Selma.[3] This section is also envisioned by some as part of a proposed Interstate 14.

The junction between I-85 and I-77 in Charlotte is a strange configuration. When I-85 passes under I-77, the northbound lanes of I-77 are to the west (south on I-85) of the southbound lanes, and southbound I-77 is to the east (north on I-85) of northbound. The travel lanes on I-77 return to their proper positions north and south of this interchange.

Recently I-85 has been widened from four to six lanes in South Carolina between exits 19 (US 76, Clemson/Anderson) and 79 (Road 57, Gossett Rd., Cannons Campground).

The rivalry between the NFL's Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons has been coined "The I-85 Rivalry", since Charlotte and Atlanta are directly connected by I-85.

At milepost 98 in North Carolina, the northbound lanes of I-85 cross under the southbound lanes, and cross back over them near milepost 102. This results in motorists driving to the left of opposing traffic for approximately three miles (5 km). The switch is not very noticeable, because the roadways are separated by up to 400 feet (123 m) of woods in this area. A rest area and Vietnam Veterans memorial are located in the median of this section, so the crossover allows for all exits into the rest area to be normal right-hand exits.

Virginia's portion of I-85 was to have its posted speed limit raised from 65 mph (105 km/h) to 70 mph (113 km/h), effective July 1, 2006. As a result of this legislation, I-85 becomes the only stretch of highway in Virginia legally able to post a speed limit greater than 65 mph, and I-85 as a whole now has at least one 70-mph stretch in each of the five states it traverses.

^ According to the I-85 Extension website, [1].

[edit] External links

I-85 Extension Corridor Study - Corridor study and environmental impact statement by the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.

[edit] See also

edit Main Interstate Highways (multiples of 5 in pink)
4	5	8	10	12	15	16	17	19	20	22	24	25	26	27	29	30
35	37	39	40	43	44	45	49	55	57	59	64	65	66	66 (W)		68
69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76 (W)		76 (E)		77	78	79	80	81	82
83	84 (W)		84 (E)		85	86 (W)		86 (E)		87	88 (W)		88 (E)		89	90
91	93	94	95	96	97	99	(238)		H-1		H-2		H-3
Unsigned			A-1		A-2		A-3		A-4		PRI-1		PRI-2		PRI-3
Lists		Main - Auxiliary - Suffixed - Business - Proposed - Unsigned Gaps - Intrastate - Interstate standards - Replaced