The next phase of widening North Carolina’s I-85 commenced. Crews started work on the project by first strengthening the shoulders so North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) can shift traffic outside and conduct work on the inside portion.
The project will add two lanes in each direction 7.9 miles from north of Highway 73 (Exit 55) to north of Lane Street (Exit 63), according to NCDOT.
NCDOT will change the configuration of Exit 58 from a cloverleaf design to a diverging diamond shape, also known as a “folded diamond” interchange. The design creates fewer signal changes and allows for more free-flowing traffic.
The new design will direct drivers through a traffic signal, where they will cross through oncoming traffic to the left side of the new roadway.
The driver then will continue over the interstate bridge on the left side of the road, which will be separated from oncoming traffic by barriers. The driver will then pass through another light on the other side of the bridge and cross over oncoming traffic again, ending up back on the right side of the roadway.
I-85 has been widened throughout the corridor from Charlotte to Greensboro, N.C., all but the “last little bottleneck in the area,” NCDOT Director of Outreach and Community Affairs Warren Cooksey said in a presentation to the Cabarrus Economic Development Corporation (EDC).
Cooksey called the interchanges “old,” “worn out” and “not up to current standards.”
“We’re going to fix all of that,” he said.
The $187 million project is expected to be complete in June 2018.
