Interstate 85 Business (North Carolina)

Interstate 85 Business (I-85 Bus.) in the U.S. state of North Carolina was a 29.8 mi business loop of Interstate 85 (I-85) which served several cities in the Piedmont Triad. At its peak, the highway, which was commonly referred to by locals as Business 85, was 43.3 mi long.

Route description
I-85 Bus. began at a partial wye interchange with I-85 (exit 87) in Lexington. Heading north for 4.4 mi, in a concurrency with US 29, US 52, and US 70, it went through another partial wye interchange (US 52 exit 87) before leaving the freeway. Changing to a semi-limited expressway, it served as a northern bypass of downtown Lexington, briefly running concurrently with US 64. After leaving the city limits, I-85 Bus. headed in a northeast direction parallel to I-85 further south. After it traveled through Thomasville, it entered the city of High Point at the Davidson–Randolph county line. Briefly in Randolph County for 1.6 mi, it entered Guilford County. East of downtown High Point, I-85 Bus. shared a unique three-level diamond interchange with I-74/US 311 before leaving the city limits. At the Greensboro city limit, I-85 Bus. completed its 30.7 mi journey with a trumpet interchange with I-85 (exit 118).

History
Established in 1984 as re-designation of Temp I-85 (see below), I-85 Bus. traveled from Lexington to Greensboro, in a complete concurrency with US 29 and US 70, when I-85 was completed on a more southern parallel routing.

In May 2005, I-85 was redirected southeast around Greensboro along the Greensboro Urban Loop; its old routing through Greensboro became an extension of I-85 Bus, extending it from 29.8 mi to 43 mi. The extension included a hidden 2 mi concurrency along I-85 (between exits 118–120A) before splitting off again with US 29 and US 70. In merging onto I-40 (exit 219), it continued easterly before meeting back with I-85 (exit 227) near McLeansville. For a brief period in 2008, I-40 was also decommissioned through Greensboro and rerouted around the Urban Loop, with its old routing replaced by I-40 Bus, but its former in-town route was eventually restored, resulting once again in a regular and business Interstate sharing the same alignment. In October 2018, I-85 Bus was reverted to its original 29.8 mi alignment, ending near Jamestown. The justification was to eliminate a redundant route and decrease the number of routing shields and overhead signs through Greensboro.

Decommissioning
On October 5, 2019, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) submitted an application to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and received approval to decommission I-85 Bus. along its entire route, as well as to reroute US 70 along Wendover Avenue westbound through Greensboro to NC 68 (Eastchester Drive) in High Point, and then onto NC 68, southbound from High Point to Thomasville. Under the state plan, all I-85 Bus. and US 70 signs were removed from the freeway stretch traveling southwesterly from I-40 in Greensboro to NC 68 in Thomasville, but the freeway would remain US 29. The state's justification was that the route changes would: provide a single continuous route as an alternative (US 70 now takes a more direct routing through Greensboro), simplify overhead signage on the freeway (eliminate confusion between the I-85 mainline and I-85 Bus.), and remove traffic from Interstate concurrencies in order to improve safety and regional connectivity. All signage for I-85 Bus. was eventually removed by late 2023.

Temporary Interstate 85
Temporary Interstate 85 (Temp I-85) was established by 1961 as a temporary designation that directed travelers along US 29/US 70, from the Yadkin River to Greensboro. In 1977, a flyover bridge was completed (dubbed "bridge over nothing", it later became part of I-85 exit 87), truncating Temp I-85 south-end near Lexington. In 1984, I-85 was completed on new primary routing between Lexington and Greensboro; Temp I-85 was replaced by I-85 Bus.