All of Business I-85 is on US 29 and US 70. Sometimes, other routes share the ride, as many as three more. Business I-85 is so important, it multiplexes with I-85 instead of having two different business routes. (This is reflected in its exit numbers.) In fact, the Greensboro half was once the I-85 mainline, while the remainder was long the divided highway link from there south to Charlotte before I-85 was even conceived.


SB at I-85 Exit 87, showing how US 29/US 70 (and US 52) was once part of the straight mainline that predates the Interstate era.


The three routes flirt with US 64 around Lexington, crossing under NC 8/Winston Rd., which was once a full cloverleaf but had the two small mainline NB/EB loops removed. (The SB/WB loops are equally small, yet remain.) The Business I-85 shields should have "LOOP" on top - I know a lot of states remove the state name from Interstate shields, but it's important to know whether a Business route comes back to its parent or not.


US 311 jumps on for a quadruplex just outside High Point, NB (and US 70 EB); second photo is courtesy Lou Corsaro. US 311 has been moved onto the future I-74 freeway, so the multiplex no longer exists, and neither do the remaining three shields other than 311.

SB, courtesy Lou Corsaro, not button copy but old, and also gone now.


I feel compelled to include these I-85 NB signs on this page because Business I-85 is only on the mainline for two miles, and after leaving again, as you'll see, the exit numbers ignore the gap and keep on going instead of resetting. That means NCDOT considers the Lexington-High Point route as one with the Greensboro route, putting these photos on the mainline and Business routes simultaneously. After taking all this in for a few minutes, consider trying to take it all in within 8 seconds, and decide whether a few less routes (or completely different method to signing them) might be beneficial.


Business I-85 NB/US 29 NB/US 70 EB, in the middle of Greensboro approaching I-40, courtesy Lou Corsaro. Photos start just after leaving I-85 NB, where the Greensboro Beltway was still under construction to the west. Now, as I-73 (after briefly also being part of I-40, until NCDOT was threatened with funding removal for the old alignment), at least that one part of the Beltway is complete. Even the Beltway to the east, now I-85, was new at that time - until then, I-85 ran straight up this stretch of I-85 Business, which is full freeway and basically Interstate quality. The multiplex with I-40 therefore began a little sooner, in Greensboro itself rather than the eastern suburbia. The new exit numbers on I-85 Business are based on I-85 Business's mileage as it starts south of High Point, meaning there is an implied multiplex of a few miles between I-85 Business and I-85 proper, which I believe is a unique occurrence.


Continuing NB, with another patched exit number (but by 2011, the "old exit" tabs were removed) and another omission of the word "Loop."

To I-40 and I-40/Business I-85/US 29/US 70
Onto parent I-85 and I-85/US 29/US 70
Onto just US 29 and US 29/70
Onto US 70 alone

Onto US 64
Onto US 311
Exit 120 to US 421
Exit 120B to I-73
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