FHWA chief reviews I-85 widening progress | Transportation

CONCORD, NC (WBTV) - Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez today joined North Carolina Transportation Secretary Gene Conti to review progress on the widening of I-85, one of the state’s $423 million trio of high-priority projects that will improve safety and reduce traffic congestion along the Charlotte area’s major east-west commercial route.

The series of projects, which will complete the Charlotte Outer Loop, features the state’s first “turbine”-style interchange and a pair of double-crossover or “diverging diamond” interchanges designed to reduce risky left turns among drivers and cut traffic jams by as much as 60 percent.  In addition, according to estimates by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, using these innovative interchange designs will save taxpayers more than $50 million.

Administrator Mendez’s visit follows the President’s budget release on Monday, which includes $305 billion, over six years, to rebuild America’s roads and bridges, a 34-percent increase over the previous authorization.

Workers on the $147.9 million I-85 project, the site of Thursday's briefing, are widening seven miles of I-85 from four lanes to eight from south of Bruton Smith Boulevard/Concord Mills Boulevard to north of NC 73 in Cabarrus County. 

When completed in late 2013, the I-85 widening project will significantly reduce traffic congestion at one of the state’s worst bottlenecks. Used by an estimated 118,000 daily drivers, the route is prone to some of the state’s worst traffic back-ups – some lasting 60 minutes or longer during rush hour or special events at the nearby Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The other two of the Charlotte Outer Loop’s three projects – the $109.8 million I-85/I-485 Interchange and the $165 million I-485 Loop completion – use “design-build finance,” a financial innovation that allowed construction to begin four years earlier than originally estimated. 

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