I-26 East Near Brevard Road Faces Overnight Closures for Construction Traffic Shift

Anyone driving I-26 East through Asheville after 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday night will hit a hard closure, with no passage between mile markers 33 and 37 near Brevard Road until 6 a.m. each morning. NCDOT issued an alert saying I-26 East will be closed between mile markers 33 and 37, near Brevard Road, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next morning "in preparation for a traffic shift." Work is scheduled to conclude Saturday, March 28.

The closures are not just about shifting lanes. The operations are part of the I-26 widening projects in Buncombe and Henderson counties, with crews utilizing the closures for diamond-grinding, concrete work on the Blue Ridge Parkway bridge, and preparation for a traffic shift in Buncombe County. That bridge work has been one of the linchpins of the entire Buncombe stretch: construction of a new Blue Ridge Parkway bridge over I-26 and the addition of a new interchange altered the original timetable in Buncombe County, and once the parkway bridge is complete, I-26 can be completed, leaving the new interchange as the remaining major operation.

Drivers diverted at Exit 33 will follow a specific route: take Exit 33 onto N.C. 191 South (Brevard Road), turn left and continue on N.C. 191 to N.C. 146 East (Long Shoals Road), then turn left, and continue on N.C. 146 East to rejoin I-26 East at Exit 37. The detour is not unmanaged. Traffic lights along the detour route will remain green longer to accommodate the additional traffic. Drivers are asked to plan for delays and allow extra travel time.

NCDOT's caution to motorists is direct: the department reminds drivers to be cautious near work zones and plan for the longer detour.

The Brevard Road corridor has seen repeated overnight closures as the Buncombe section of the widening project inches toward completion. NCDOT's revised contract completion date for I-26 widening in Buncombe, which includes Exit 35, is July 1, 2027, according to NCDOT spokesman David Uchiyama. Opening the South Asheville stretch allowed crews to shift focus to the northern half of the widening project in Buncombe County, between Long Shoals Road and Brevard Road — precisely the segment affected by this week's closures. The full project, covering approximately 16.9 miles of I-26 from U.S. 64 in Hendersonville to Brevard Road in Asheville, remains one of the most consequential infrastructure undertakings in western North Carolina's recent history.

For real-time updates on closures and detour conditions, NCDOT's traffic information is available at DriveNC.gov.