Buncombe County marks I-26 Connector milestone as bridge work begins

New bridge work on the I-26 Connector is now moving into the ground off Riverside Drive, where crews are expected to spend about a year drilling roughly 390 foundation shafts for structures that will carry new lanes over the French Broad River. The work marks the largest section of Asheville’s long-delayed connector project entering a more disruptive construction phase, with permanent ramp closures already changing how drivers reach I-240, Hill Street and Patton Avenue.

The bridges are intended to separate local traffic from interstate traffic along Patton Avenue, a change transportation officials say should improve safety and ease congestion in one of Asheville’s busiest corridors. For nearby neighborhoods, the effect will be immediate as construction activity concentrates around the river corridor and downtown approaches, where businesses and commuters have already been dealing with ramp closures and detours tied to the project.

NCDOT Division 13 Construction Engineer Nathan Moneyham said the early work will stay mostly off Riverside Drive before the bridge structures rise into place. He said the foundations alone will take about a year to drill, a reminder that the visible progress in Asheville will lag far behind the first heavy equipment and lane restrictions. The new bridges are projected to be completed by 2029.

The connector itself stretches about 7 miles and is split into five sections, including upgrades to I-240, changes at the I-26/I-40/I-240 interchange, a new interstate alignment from Haywood Road across the French Broad River to U.S. 19/23/70 north of Broadway Street, work at the I-40 interchanges with Smokey Park Highway, I-26/I-240 and Brevard Road, and improvements along Riverside Drive from Hill Street to Broadway Street. The final remaining section, from Haywood Road back to I-40, is expected to begin construction in November.

The north section is being delivered through design-build, with the contract awarded in June 2024 and completion now projected for fall 2031. NCDOT says the right-of-way phase covers about 170 parcels and will lead to roughly 80 relocations, including about 32 residential relocations and 45 non-residential relocations, with current acquisition funding totaling about $193 million.

The project has been on NCDOT’s planning books since 1989, when it was first included as I-2513. The City of Asheville says a working group started meeting in 2016 on traffic forecasts, visualizations, bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, design refinements, aesthetics, and noise policies and abatement. The Final Environmental Impact Statement was signed Jan. 9, 2020, and the Record of Decision followed on May 26, 2023.

The project also includes about 3.5 miles of multi-use paths and greenways, along with noise-wall reviews at 26 locations, eight of which preliminarily met feasibility and reasonableness criteria. Asheville and NCDOT adopted recommendations from the Aesthetics Advisory Committee for the new Patton Avenue bridge on Oct. 14, 2025, including changes meant to better serve pedestrians and bicyclists.

At $1.8 billion, the full I-26 Connector ranks among the costliest highway projects in North Carolina history. State officials said the finished corridor will create a continuous interstate route linking western North Carolina to the Port of Charleston in South Carolina, but for Asheville drivers and businesses, the next phase means years of bridge work, lane shifts and neighborhood disruption before the payoff arrives.