RALEIGH, N.C. — DriversΒ planning to travel on I-85 for the holiday weekendΒ shouldΒ be aware of delays due to construction.
Motorists planning to travel on I-85 to and from Virginia need to be aware of the potential for heavy delays near the state border, where there are two sections of the interstate where four lanes of traffic are reduced to two for a construction project.
Due to work to reconstruct the northbound lanes, all traffic has been shifted onto the southbound side of I-85,Β creating a two-lane, two-way traffic pattern. They can cause backups and delays because of the volume of traffic going through the work zone.
One shift that drivers will encounter is between mile markers 213.5 and 218.5, about 20 miles from the state line. The other is just a few miles south of the state line, between mile markers 226 and 230.
There are potential alternate routes available for motorists when heavy backups occur. Northbound drivers can use U.S. 158, U.S. 1 and U.S. 401 to travel between exits 215 and 233, with southbound drivers heading in the opposite order.
A longer alternate route to miss the work zone altogether would be for northbound I-85 motorists to use I-85 to I-40 East in Hillsborough, then onto I-540 East and around the north side of Raleigh onto I-495/U.S. 64 East to I-95 North in Rocky Mount, and back to I-85 in Petersburg, Virginia. The alternate route would be reversed for southbound I-85 motorists coming out of Richmond.
