NC will spend $45M to speed up fix for one of state’s ‘most congested’ interchanges

Mary Ramsey
·2 min read
Cars on Interstate 85 in western Mecklenburg County, near the Charlotte airport and Gaston County line. The interchange is the recipient of $45 million in funding to speed up improvements to the area.

New funding will speed up improvements to an often-congested Charlotte interchange, state and local officials announced Thursday.

North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore said he’s allocating $45 million in House Contingency funds to accelerate the redesign of what he called one of the most congested interchanges in the state. The money will fund the design and construction of a revamped Interstate 85 and Interstate 485 interchange in western Mecklenburg County, near the Gaston County line and the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport

With the money, the North Carolina Department of Transportation will start work on the project “no later than 2025,” instead of waiting till at least 2033, said Moore, who doesn’t plan to run for reelection in 2024 and is the subject of speculation about a congressional bid.

“That’s going to make a huge difference for the men and women and families who travel this road every day to get to and from work, to and from home, taking children to school. And to all the commerce that happens here with tractor trailers, those who are coming in and doing business,” he said at a Thursday press conference near the interchange announcing the allocation. “... This will make a tremendous difference, not just for Mecklenburg County, but for this entire region of North Carolina.”

The project’s scope “includes the construction of additional lanes that will increase capacity for traffic merging from I-485 to I-85 southbound,” NCDOT said in a letter to Moore confirming the funding.

Frequently snarled traffic at the existing interchange is a headache for drivers, a safety risk and a drag on the region’s economy, Moore said.

“This particular interchange that you see behind me here today is one of the most congested in the state of North Carolina, in fact between the two states of North Carolina and South Carolina,” he told the crowd at Thursday’s event.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, who Moore credited for lobbying for the project alongside City Council members Ed Driggs and Tariq Bokhari, and Gaston County officials, called the funding good news for the city’s economy because of the proximity to the airport and other businesses.

“It’s not just about the traffic. It is really not just a transportation project,” she said.

The $45 million comes from a pool of $100 million set aside in the state budget to be used at Moore’s discretion. Asked about the timing of the announcement, Moore said the money being available now is what made it the right time to double-down.

“We had the funds, simple as that,” he said. “This has been something we’ve been working on here for over a year really, and we finally in this year’s budget had the money to be able to allocate it.”