I-485 toll lane update: Here’s what to know about work on bridges in south Charlotte
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This is an occasional series about dangerous or tricky intersections and roadwork across the Charlotte region. Know of one? Send an email to Joe Marusak at jmarusak@charlotteobserver .com.
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Editor’s note: This is one in an occasional series of articles updating Charlotte-area highway projects. Wondering about one? Send an email to Joe Marusak at jmarusak@charlotteobserver .com.
Despite a previously announced two-year delay on the Interstate 485 toll-lane project, work on new, larger bridges along the corridor in south Charlotte and Mecklenburg County is moving right along, state highway officials said this week.
On Aug. 31, the Elm Lane bridge opened with an extra travel lane, a 12-foot multi-use path and an 8-foot sidewalk as part of the I-485 project, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
The bridge gives drivers, bicyclists and walkers “a safer way to get around,” N.C. Transportation Board member Stephen Rosenburgh said in a news release at the time.
And work is well underway on a four-lane Ballantyne Commons Parkway bridge — between Tom Short Road and the Raintree neighborhood — that will replace the existing two-lane bridge.
The first phase, or “stage,” of the new bridge is expected to open next summer, NCDOT spokesman Marcus Thompson told The Charlotte Observer on Wednesday.
Traffic will then shift onto the new bridge, and the current bridge will be torn down, according to Thompson.
Bridge work over I-485
Razing the existing bridge will allow for construction of the second and final stage of the new bridge, Thompson said, with completion expected in 2023.
Crews are building the bridge beside the existing span. A bridge support is in place in the I-485 median.
“After the new bridge is completed, traffic will be switched into a two-lane alignment that matches the current roadway alignment,” Thompson said in an email. “Traffic will be switched into a four-lane alignment across the bridge and along Ballantyne Commons Parkway as a part of the upcoming widening project.”
Building the bridge in stages limits expected closures and detours to the day after the completion of each stage, according to Thompson.
“There will be no long-term closures and detours on Ballantyne Commons Parkway as a part of this project,” he said.
The I-485 toll lanes project will add a toll lane in each direction between I-77 and Independence Boulevard (U.S. 74). Crews also are adding a free, general-purpose lane in each direction along I-485 between Rea Road and Providence Road.
The project was expected to cost $346 million when construction started in 2019.
I-485 toll lanes delay
In May, NCDOT officials confirmed that the opening of the toll lanes — originally planned for fall 2022 — faces a delay of up to two years.
The delay was revealed during an obscure public meeting of a North Carolina Turnpike Authority committee in Raleigh, the Observer previously reported.
“We’re probably looking at a year-and-a-half to two-year delay on the project,” Andy Lelewski, director of toll operations for the authority, disclosed at an April 22 meeting of the authority board’s operations committee. The authority is in charge of toll lane projects across the state.
Also as part of the project, Weddington Road is getting a new interchange, and the I-485 interchange at John Street in Matthews is being improved.
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 6:10 AM.