Route Description
I-85 enters the state from Cherokee County, South Carolina near Grover in Cleveland County. After only a few miles, the highway enters Gaston County, which is part of the Charlotte metropolitan area.
Near Kings Mountain, I-85 turns from a northeast trajectory to an eastward one and goes through Gastonia before crossing the Catawba River and entering Charlotte. At Gastonia, the highway widens from four to six lanes and keeps the number of lanes until it reaches Belmont, where the highway widens again to eight lanes.
In Charlotte, I-85 passes north of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and goes by a number of retail centers before turning northeastward again just west of Uptown Charlotte. The highway bypasses the downtown area, but several exits do provide access to the area. A partial wrong-way interchange exists at the exit with Interstate 77 north of Uptown.
The highway actually lies within the city limits of Charlotte for most of its route through Mecklenburg County. As a result, none of the exit signs list "Charlotte" as a destination for the intersecting routes. This can be confusing to motorists not familiar with the region, who often don't realize that they are actually within the city limits of Charlotte when searching for an exit that will take them to Bank of America Stadium, Time Warner Cable Arena, or other destinations in Uptown Charlotte. The route through Charlotte traverses a heavily commercialized section of the city that is more suburban than urban in character, with light industry such as truck terminals, warehouses, small manufacturing facilities, and small office parks lining the highway.
After Charlotte, I-85 continues northeastward into Cabarrus County, passing by the cities of Concord and Kannapolis. It drops from 8 lanes to 4 lanes between exit 49 (near Lowe's Motor Speedway and Concord Mills Mall) and exit 68 near the Rowan County town of China Grove, at which point it increases to 8 lanes again.
Approximately 70 miles (110 km) northeast of the Charlotte area is the Triad area, anchored by the cities of Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point. I-85 bypasses High Point and also largely bypasses Greensboro. Up until February 2004, I-85 went through the heart of Greensboro and joined Interstate 40 near downtown. Today, I-85 is routed along the Greensboro Urban Loop and meets I-40 east of downtown. Its former route is now known as Business 85.
Interstates 85 and 40 remain joined as they continue eastward to the Triangle region, anchored by the cities of Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh. West of Durham near Hillsborough, the two highways split, with I-40 heading southeast toward Chapel Hill and Raleigh while I-85 continues eastward through Durham, then northeastward as it exits the city. The highway bypasses Oxford and Henderson before crossing into Mecklenburg County, Virginia.
Read more about this topic: Interstate 85 In North Carolina
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