The Triangle region has another interstate highway in its future
Interstate highways continue to multiply in North Carolina.
State and local officials on Monday unveiled signs for “Future I-685,” which will someday follow U.S. 421 from I-85 near Greensboro southeast through Siler City and Sanford to I-95 in Dunn.
The red, white and blue shields signal the N.C. Department of Transportation’s intentions to upgrade 86 miles of road to interstate standards. It adds to the list of new, future and partially completed interstate highways in the region, including I-885 in Durham, I-42 and I-87 from the Triangle to the coast, and I-587 between Zebulon and Greenville.
For now, the “Future I-685” signs will appear along U.S. 421 only between I-85 in Guilford County and U.S. 421 Business in Lee County, near Sanford. That stretch is already a four-lane divided highway.
But business recruiters say companies look for good access to interstates — the gold standard for the nation’s highways — and may not even consider locating in places without it.
The Carolina Core
Among those pushing for interstate designation for U.S. 421 were the governments and business groups behind The Carolina Core, their name for a 120-mile stretch of central North Carolina from west of Winston-Salem to Fayetteville that largely follows the highway.
“This future interstate designation will help further increase our region’s economic competitiveness, while improving connectivity and commerce throughout the state,” Loren Hill, the effort’s regional economic development director, said in a statement Monday.
The Carolina Core includes four so-called megasites — big chunks of land set aside for companies that need space for manufacturing or other facilities. Three of those sites have attracted big employers in recent years: the VinFast electric car factory near Moncure in Chatham County; the Toyota car battery plant in Randolph County, and the silicon carbide chip plant that Wolfspeed is building near Siler City in Chatham County.
Improved highway access was part of the incentive packages that brought both VinFast and Toyota to North Carolina. NCDOT is building new interchanges and access roads from U.S. 421 to the Toyota site and off U.S. 1 at the VinFast site. NCDOT is also building roads needed to access the Wolfspeed site from U.S. 64.
NCDOT has not said what it needs to do to bring U.S. 421 up to interstate standards, which were developed by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and adopted by the Federal Highway Administration. They cover most aspects of highway design, including the width of lanes and paved shoulders, the height of bridges and the slope of the pavement.
Limited access highways
Interstates must also be limited access highways. U.S. 421 has numerous intersections between Greensboro and Sanford that will have to be eliminated before the highway becomes I-685.
East of Sanford, creating I-685 would be a major undertaking. U.S. 421 is partially a two-lane road in Harnett County and passes through the towns of Lillington, Buies Creek and Dunn.
The designation of I-685 got a boost from Congress in 2021, when the big infrastructure bill included a provision designating the road a “high priority corridor,” a step toward interstate status. Triad regional leaders next hope to get the same designation for U.S. 421 from I-40 in Winston-Salem west to Wilksboro.
The potential name for that highway: I-777.
