The aging Yadkin River Bridge near Salisbury will close permanently, starting Wednesday, according to a press release from the N.C. Department of Transportation. Crews will temporarily shift I-85 South traffic onto the new I-85 North bridge over the Yadkin River tonight, allowing two lanes of traffic to flow in each direction on the new bridge.
I-85 is the most direct and heavily traveled route between Richmond, Va., and Atlanta, Ga. More than 60,000 vehicles – many of them tractor trailers – drive over the Yadkin River on I-85 between Charlotte and the Triad each day.
The N.C. Department of Transportation opened the new I-85 North bridge over the Yadkin River on May 5. At that time, crews moved I-85 North traffic off the old bridge and onto two lanes of the new four-lane bridge. When I-85 South traffic temporarily shifts off the old bridge, it will use the remaining two lanes of the new I-85 North bridge.
Crews are building the new I-85 South bridge over the Yadkin River, which is scheduled to be complete in November. Once the new, wider sections of I-85 South that connect to the new bridge are complete in April 2013, NCDOT will move I-85 South traffic onto the new southbound bridge.
This work is part of the I-85 Corridor Improvement Project in Davidson and Rowan counties.
The first phase of the project includes widening 3.3 miles of I-85 from four to eight lanes from north of Long Ferry Road (Exit 81) in Rowan County to just north of the N.C. 150 interchange in Davidson County, reconstructing the N.C. 150 interchange and replacing eight bridges, including the Yadkin River bridge.
The second phase of the project extends the widening work 3.8 miles to just north of I-85 Business in Davidson County and reconstructs the I-85 interchange at Belmont Road.
The project is scheduled to be complete in May 2013.
For more information about the project, visit www.i-85yadkinriver.com or follow NCDOT’s I-85 Twitter feed, https://twitter.com/ncdot_i85.