Interstate 85

**Interstate 85** is a north-south major interstate running from Petersburg, Virginia to Montgomery, Alabama. It is also a major route in the south, connecting the Richmond, Virginia area to the Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, Spartanburg/Greenville, South Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, and Montgomery, Alabama areas together, and indirectly the Washington D.C./Maryland/Virginia and Mobile, Alabama areas together.

## Route Description

### Virginia

Interstate 85 starts at Interstate 95 and US Route 460 in Petersburg, Virginia south of Richmond, and continues south towards the Raleigh/Durham area, continuing through rural Virginia until South Hill, where it meets US Route 58. It then continues south into North Carolina. The I-95/I-85 exit was the former home to the famous I-95 South sign for Miami just under 1,000 miles away!

### Carolinas

Interstate 85 enters North Carolina, and continues southwest towards Durham. In Henderson, I-85 splits with US Route 1. US 1 continues south towards Raleigh, and I-85 continues southwest towards Durham. It then starts a concurrency with I-40 near Durham, and continues west with I-40 towards Greensboro.

I-40 and I-85 passes Mebane, Graham, and Burlington, then continues west towards Greensboro. I-85 and I-40 split east of Greensboro. I-40 continues into downtown Greensboro and Winston-Salem, and I-85 continues southwest towards Lexington and Charlotte. It also meets I-73, US 421, and US 220 south of Greensboro, before going south to Charlotte.

I-85 then meets I-485 northeast of Charlotte, and I-77 north of Charlotte. It then also passes Charlotte International Airport and I-485 again west of Charlotte. I-85 then continues southwest towards Spartanburg, but before doing so it passes Gastonia and US 321, and US 74 in Kings Mountain. It then enters South Carolina.

After entering South Carolina it meets the Spartanburg-Greenville Area. It passes I-585 and I-26 in Spartanburg, and continues southwest towards Greenville, and meets I-185, I-385, and US 25 in Greenville, then continues southwest towards Georgia and Atlanta.

### Georgia

After entering Georgia, I-85 continues southwest towards Atlanta, meeting US 421 near Commerce, US 129 near Jefferson, I-985 near Buford, US 29 near Duluth, I-285 in Atlanta, GA 400 and US 19 in Atlanta, and meeting I-75 in Atlanta. It then makes a turn southbound while concurrent with I-75. It goes past Downtown Atlanta before meeting I-20 in Atlanta. North of Hartsfield Airport, it splits with I-85, making yet another turn to the southwest, passing Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. It then continues southwest through rural Georgia, but before entering Alabama, it meets I-185, which goes south towards Columbus. I-85 then continues southwest into Alabama.

### Alabama & Mississippi

I-85 goes southwest through rural Alabama before meeting US 231 near Montgomery, and then ending at I-65. It was once proposed to extend I-85 past Montgomery to Meridian, Mississippi via US 80, which was approved by AASHTO in 2010, and approved by the FHWA in 2011. It would also likely have a concurrency with Future Interstate 14 at some point.

## Auxiliary Routes

 I-385
 I-585

 I-285
 I-985