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[Takumi]

I've planned a trip to Charlotte in a couple weeks. Since I'm not driving, we'll probably just stay on I-85 the whole way down. I haven't been that way in about 10 years, so I don't remember if there are any interesting road-related things that way. Any suggestions for signage to look for?

[1995hoo]

After you pass the Lake Road exit near Thomasville there's the odd segment where you "drive on the left" due to the carriageways crossing over, though it's not really all that noticeable unless you know it's there. There is a rest area between the two carriageways in that area, though I've never stopped there.

[dfilpus]

There is a ton of construction from south of Lexington to Charlotte. I-85 is being relocated from a two lane bridge pair to a new four lane bridge pair over the Yadkin River. Currently, both directions of travel are on the new northbound bridge while the southbound bridge is being built. Also, I-85 is being widened from four lanes to eight from NC-87 south of Concord to I-485 in Charlotte. During the day, there can be tremendous traffic backups from either of these construction projects. Taking I-40 from Greensboro to Statesville and I-77 south to Charlotte may be faster. However, if you are into road construction, these widening projects have all sorts of goodies. There are temporary access ramps from freeway bridges into construction zones for construction traffic only. The new I-85 Yadkin Bridge is causing US 29/70/NC 150 to be rerouted off of I-85 earlier and a new road is being built to the old US 29/70/NC 150 bridge, which is being refurbished as well.

[Alex]

There are no state-named shields on the I-85 mainline anymore. The only place where you will find them close-by is at the Ruin Creek Road interchange. Those were installed in 2004 or 2005.

Many sign changes were made in the Charlotte area by last year. All of the overheads on I-77 in particular were swapped out and their lighting fixtures removed. So expect standard stuff when you get there...

[1995hoo]

The construction is a good point.....we went through there at night on our most recent trip south (the Friday before Christmas) and it still slammed to a stop at the China Grove exit. Unless you have a compelling reason to stay on the Interstate, you might want to be prepared to bail out and use US-29, which more or less parallels I-85 at varying distances between Greensboro and Charlotte. The major construction is all north of the point where I-85 turns west near UNC-C.

BTW, I don't know if this information is still accurate, but it can't hurt to pass it on—I had a business meeting in Charlotte to which I drove and the firm where I was headed warned me that there are almost always cops doing speed enforcement in the Archdale area. This was some years back, though.

[Takumi]

Thanks for the heads up on the construction and the other suggestions.

Any button copy overheads left? I remember seeing one or two on Gribblenation.

[Takumi]

The construction was ongoing today, but traffic wasn't bad. The only real delay was the usual bottleneck at I-485 northbound, made worse by a wreck. Other than that, the only noteworthy thing was a set of 12-8-8 signals in Charlotte livery (yellow back, black front) and clinching I-277 as a passenger.