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This web page is provided by the Emergency Services Department of Rowan County, telephone (704) 638-0911. It's purpose is to keep motorists and residents advised of progress and problems associated with the Interstate road project in Rowan County. If you have questions or comments regarding the web site or the project, please contact us via email or via telephone. This page will be regularly updated and revised as the five year plus project continues.
(29 Apr 99)---New detour maps are now available on the web site in case of traffic delays or mishaps during the construction phase. These eight new maps were made available by Jo Ann Oerter, Traffic Operations Planning Engineer, with the NC Department of Transportation Division of Highways.
(17 Feb 99)---The video camera monitors at four locations in Rowan County are now operational. The Changeable Message Signs in the Northbound and the Southbound Lanes are also in operation, and the I-85 widening project has now been approved for the Davidson County Section of roadway between the Yadkin River Bridge and the I-85/Business I-85 split according to Division 9 Traffic Engineer John Davenport.
For current information on the work area, motorists should tune their AM car radio to 1610 kHZ for the NC-DOT Highway Advisory Radio broadcasts. There are two transmitters operated 24-hours-per-day at locations just north and south of the work area. Prominent signs along the Interstate also remind motorists of the broadcasts.
NC-DOT has contracted with a wrecker service as part of the project to quickly tow cars involved in accidents or which are broken down to an accident investigation area at an off-ramp at Peach Orchard Road (Exit 73) to minimize major backups of traffic due to these incidents.
For Additional Information, Click on the Following: |
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This site and other Rowan County
Government Sites are provided through a partnership between Rowan Public Library and Rowan
County Information Systems |
Work was begun in September 1997 on widening an aging section of
Interstate 85 where the road passes through Rowan County, North Carolina, between
Greensboro to the north and Charlotte to the south. This project, which will be broken up
in several phases, has begun at the southern end of the project at the Intersection of
I-85 and NC-152 (Exit 68) near China Grove, and it eventually will continue northward to a
point just south of the Yadkin River north of Long Ferry Road (Exit 81). 
Another project, under consideration but not yet funded, will continue the
work northward into Davidson County where the existing six-lane Interstate merges with
Business-85. This project, if funded, would likely include a new I-85 bridge over the
Yadkin River and redesign of the I-85/US-29/NC-150 interchange just north of the river. 
Current work includes paving areas to the outside of the present lanes and
bridge work at the Julian Road bridge. This bridge is expected to be
opened in the spring of 2000. The
picture at the right shows work in mid March at the Julian Road interchange.
Paving on internal lanes is underway from NC-152 to Webb Road. Also, a two-sided guard rail has been installed in the median of the highway during the
initial work are of the project...from NC-152 northward to near Peeler Road. A cable
barrier has been installed for the remainder of Rowan County from the Yadkin River
southward to the county line and beyond.
Plans call for
much of the initial work on the project to be carried out between the hours of 8PM (2000)
until 6AM (0600) so as to minimize traffic disruptions. The contractor is also obliged to
maintain two lanes of traffic in both the north and southbound lanes during the work. This
will, however, necessitate closing the breakdown lane on the outs
ide
of the travel lanes and there will be no room to the inside of the travel lanes as well.