I-85 - Definition and Overview

Interstate 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.

Length

Major Cities Along the Route

• Montgomery, Alabama
• Auburn, Alabama
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Greenville, South Carolina
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Greensboro, North Carolina
• Durham, North Carolina
• Petersburg, Virginia

Intersections with other Interstates

• Interstate 65 in Montgomery, Alabama
• Interstate 75 in Atlanta, Georgia (concurrent through downtown)
• Interstate 20 in Atlanta, Georgia
• Interstate 26 in Spartanburg, South Carolina
• Interstate 77 in Charlotte, North Carolina
• Interstate 40 in Greensboro, North Carolina. They stay connected until Durham, North Carolina.
• Interstate 95 in Petersburg, Virginia

Spur Routes

• I-185 - Spur to Columbus, Georgia
• I-285 - Atlanta, Georgia
• I-985 - Spur to Gainesville, Georgia
• I-185 - Greenville, South Carolina
• I-385 - Spur to Clinton, South Carolina, 42 miles (67.6 km)
  • I-385 stretches from Clinton at Interstate 26 to Greenville, South Carolina at U.S. Highway 29. After exit 42, Interstate 385 turns into a Business Spur that then promptly ends at U.S. 29 near the Bi-Lo Center in Downtown Greenville.
• I-585 - Spartanburg, South Carolina, 2.25 miles (3.62 km)
  • I-585 stretches from the I-85 Business Loop to U.S. Highway 221. I-585 is co-signed the entire length with U.S. Highway 176 and uses its exit number system instead of its own. Between exits 23 and 24 the Interstate is considered "at-grade" before its exit with U.S. 221 and then quickly ends at the stoplight. The spur was once connected to Interstate 85 from 1957 till 1997. That year, I-85 was moved north to by-pass Spartanburg, leaving I-585 an orphan. There are plans in the future to extend I-585 along U.S. 176 to I-85's new location.
• I-485 - Charlotte, North Carolina

Notes

• Interstate 85 has two business routes, one in Spartanburg, South Carolina and the other in Lexington to Greensboro, North Carolina.

• Interstate 85 has also been rerouted on three different occasions: in northeastern Atlanta, north of Spartanburg, and around Greensboro. The former I-85 in Atlanta is now part of GA 13, and the other two reroutings have produced the aforementioned business routes. Additionally, a section of I-85 ended in Charlotte as a new extension to the northeast was being built.

• 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.

• 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.

• Interstate 485 was supposed to be an east-west connector route in the Atlanta area, but it was erased due to community opposition. Part of what would've been I-485 is now GA 10, and the I-485 designation itself has been assigned to a new beltway around Charlotte.

• 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.

• 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.

• I-85 could also be extended to Baltimore. It would merge with I-95 in Petersburg, then follow it through Richmond, Fredericksburg, Springfield and Alexandria. The addition of I-85 to the Capital Beltway would create a third interstate sharing the same road around Washington, D.C., along with I-95 and I-495. (Currently, the only time that three Interstates share the same road is I-55/I-64/I-70 in the St. Louis area.) Coincidentally, a similar situation would be created in Richmond, where I-95 and I-64 run together for 4 miles (6.4 km). The I-85/I-95 merge would leave the Beltway at College Park, Maryland, and then I-85 itself would leave I-95 at the MD 32 interchange. From there, I-85 would follow MD 32 to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and continue its northward trek along that route. The reason that the Parkway doesn't carry a route number south of MD 32 is because the National Parks Service, who owns that stretch, wouldn't allow route numbers there, 295 or not. I-85 would end in Baltimore at its junction with I-95, like it currently does in Petersburg. There could also be a business spur assigned to the ensuing surface street that leads into the downtown district. Anyway, if I-85 is extended northward into Maryland and Pennsylvania, there would be some justification for renumbering Interstate 99 as Interstate 81 and the current I-81 as Interstate 83 to a point.