Interstate 785

Route description

I-785 begins at the interchange of I-40/I-85/I-85 Bus. Heading north, it connects with US 70, where it currently ends. The entire route is in concurrency with I-840.

Future corridor signs of I-785 are marked along US 29 between Greensboro and Danville.

SR 785 is the unsigned interim route number until I-785 is built to interstate standards.

History

The designation was approved in 1997 at the request of a coalition of counties in North Carolina and Virginia who saw it as a way of further developing that area's economy. Most of the route will use existing US 29 north of Greensboro; however, for a few miles I-785 will run between US 29 and its parent route, I-85 on the Greensboro Urban Loop, which will also carry the I-840 designation. Construction of this highway was due to begin in 2011. With the upgrade of the Danville Expressway to a four-lane route in 2004, the I-785 route in Virginia is complete (and has been given the interim designation SR 785), but US 29 still needs to be upgraded to Interstate standards in North Carolina between the Greensboro Loop and Reidsville before the route can be signed as an Interstate. Currently, there are no projects scheduled by the North Carolina Department of Transportation to do so. Given that in the spring of 2006 NCDOT put up mileposts and added numbers to some exit signs from Reidsville to the Virginia border reflecting US 29's mileage, an upgrade of this highway to an interstate does not seem to be in their immediate plans.

On July 31, 2013, NCDOT got approval from the FHWA to co-sign the first section of I-785 with I-840 in eastern Guilford County, officially establishing I-785 in North Carolina.

Future

In Greensboro, 5.5 miles of the eastern loop of the Greensboro Urban Loop, from US 70 to US 29, with an interchange at Huffine Mill Road, is currently under construction. This section is planned to be a concurrency of I-840 and I-785, though when it is opened in December 2018, it will only be signed as I-785. The estimated cost of the project is $119 million.

After the Greensboro Urban Loop is completed, NCDOT and Greensboro DOT plan to add an interchange for Cone Boulevard (SR2565). Plans for the interchange have existed since 2004; however, no time table or funding is available at this time. Nor is there funding available to upgrade US 29 north of I-785 to US 158 in Reidsville to interstate standards, necessary for I-785 to be signed northward to Virginia. Roadway improvement and interchange upgrades Summit Avenue (SR2526)/Reedy Fork Parkway (SR2790) and Bryan Park Road (SR2641) are proposed, known as STIP Number R-4707, with an estimated cost of $44.1 million, but no timetable or funding for construction is available at this time. NCDOT is currently upgrading exit signage for the current US 29 freeway north of Reidsville, but adding US 29 milepost exit numbers to the signs, indicating this section's designation as I-785 is years away.