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I-40 in North Carolina

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wdcrft63:
Folks, how about a thread for North Carolina’s longest interstate? In the Triangle area we have two major widening/reconstruction projects, one from I-440 to NC 42 including the giant interchange with Toll 540 and Future I-42 and another from I-85 to US 15/501. Reconstruction of the interchange with I-440/US 1/US 64 is probably coming later in the decade. Farther west the I-77 interchange does have its own thread. Scattered across the state are bridge replacement, interchange improvement, and repaving projects. Posts on these projects are hard to keep up with in the main North Carolina thread. We have good coverage of construction on the state’s new interstates I-42, I-87, I-587, I-73/74, and even I-685. I’d like to see similar concentrated attention to the state’s backbone interstate.

wriddle082:
Yes!  I’d like to see updates regarding the Pigeon River bridge reconstruction going on between the Fines Creek and Maggie Valley exits out in the Smokies.  It seems like one direction of the other will have massive delays at any given time.  If you’re going westbound on I-40 through Asheville you will see electronic signs estimating the travel times so you can decide whether to stay on 40 or divert to US 25/70.  But if you’re coming up I-26 westbound from Hendersonville or point further southeast, you don’t get those travel time signs.  Lately I’ve just been taking US 25/70 from Weaverville to Newport, TN anyway, and it’s mostly a pleasant drive.  Only real slowdowns are in Hot Springs and Newport, but they don’t seem nearly as serious as the slowdowns leading up to the construction zone lane drops.

ARMOURERERIC:
I'm a regular for exits 71 to I-77, can keep you up to date

architect77:
I-40 is being widened to 6 lanes from the Durham Freeway ? to the merge with I-85. It's a fairly long construction zone.

One or two interchanges are being rebuilt near RDU on I-40.

The 1990's rebuilding of I-40/I-85 duplex took an agonizing 8-9 years. It has held up well, and was one of my favorite stretches until I-85 was widened from Lexington to North Charlotte which is beautiful, wide, concrete-paved and more generously proportioned than the 85/40 duplex through Burlington.

The I-85/I-40 duplex between Greensboro and Durham now feels cramped and too crowned (pavement) comparated to I-85 North of Charlotte.

South of Greensboro, which was once the widest and best section of I-85, is now the crummiest, with deteriorating pavement and only 3 lanes wide. The many bypasses around Greensboro are not included in this though, and they are new and nice.

sprjus4:

--- Quote from: architect77 on February 27, 2023, 05:11:40 PM ---I-40 is being widened to 6 lanes from the Durham Freeway ? to the merge with I-85. It's a fairly long construction zone.
--- End quote ---
The project starts at US-15/US-501 near Chapel Hill where I-40 currently reduces from 6 lanes to 4 lanes. The project will widen that “gap” between I-85 and US-15/US-501 to 6 lanes.


--- Quote ---South of Greensboro, which was once the widest and best section of I-85, is now the crummiest, with deteriorating pavement and only 3 lanes wide. The many bypasses around Greensboro are not included in this though, and they are new and nice.

--- End quote ---
I drove this segment of I-85 recently driving between Greensboro and Charlotte, and the segment seemed to handle fine traffic wise. Traffic was easily flowing over 80 mph and was relatively smooth. A significant portion was recently resurfaced as well.

Due to recent widening between Lexington and Concord, I-85 drops from 8 lanes to 6 lanes heading north, but it’s at a major interstate split with I-285 and traffic heading towards Winston-Salem, so it seems to handle well.

After dealing with notorious congestion on parts of I-64 between Williamsburg and Richmond, I-81 in general, I-95 south of DC, etc. in the past, this portion of I-85 was a perfect design the whole way between Charlotte and Greensboro. In addition, unlike a lot of North Carolina’s rural interstates that are reluctant to be posted above 65 mph, especially in the central part of the state, the whole segment between Kannapolis and Greensboro is posted at 70 mph.

If you want to talk about deteriorating, NCDOT could show some love to the US-52 freeway north of Winston-Salem… a lot of the highway north of where I-74 will tie in is a bumpy ride in both lanes for a good 15-20 miles… along with the ancient bridges on that portion and decent traffic volumes, perhaps it’s time to modernize that stretch.

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