Left lanes of I-85 north and south closed Thursday at W.T. Harris, University City

Interstate 85 in north Charlotte will be shy two lanes Thursday between rush hours.

Left lanes on north and southbound sides of Interstate 85 will be closed between exits for W.T. Harris Boulevard and University City Boulevard, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

State officials say the closure is needed to allow the city of Charlotte to continue its University Pointe Boulevard project to build a bridge over the interstate at that location.

The new bridge over Interstate 85 will extend from Ikea Boulevard to IBM Drive, providing an alternative to heavily-traveled W.T. Harris Boulevard and University City Boulevard.

For real-time travel information, visit DriveNC.gov or follow NCDOT on Twitter.

This story was originally published January 4, 2017 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Left lanes of I-85 north and south closed Thursday at W.T. Harris, University City."