Since it was created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021, the proposed Interstate 685 corridor has attracted the attention of city officials who hope the route will connect Fayetteville and Fort Liberty to the Piedmont Triad.
Initially, I-685 was envisioned to connect the I-85 interchange in Greensboro to I-95 in Dunn, bypassing Fayetteville, but the North Carolina Department of Transportation is now considering alternative proposals in which I-685 would instead be routed through Fayetteville, NCDOT spokesperson Andrew Barksdale told CityView. This route could also potentially utilize the partially completed I-295 outer loop to connect I-685 directly to Fort Liberty.
“Although the federal legislation describes the future corridor as running from Greensboro to Dunn, the exact route has not been determined yet,” Barksdale said. “In fact, NCDOT last year hired an engineering consulting firm to conduct a feasibility study that would recommend the best corridor route, which could extend near Fayetteville, such as I-295, or veer off into Harnett Co. around Dunn before tying back into I-95.”
The highway, Barksdale noted, is a “future, yet-to-be funded project.”
But that hasn’t stopped city leaders from consistently lobbying for the route to go through Fayetteville over the past few years. The additional interstate, they have argued, could bring an economic boost to the city, provide improved access to Fort Liberty and enhance overall regional connectivity.
“While I can make a case why I-685 should come through Cumberland, just because it should and the benefit Fayetteville would get from it in Cumberland county, if we look at it with our Fort Liberty partners and talk about force readiness, it just makes it even more of a no brainer,” Council Member Deno Hondros said at a city council meeting earlier this month.
Hondros emphasized that I-685 going through Fayetteville could open up the door for the highway to connect to Wilmington in another leg, which would be an attractive proposal for Fort Liberty.
“Because once we connect to 685 through Sanford, all the way up to Greensboro out west, the next phase of that could be connecting to the port down in Wilmington,” Hondros said. “So what base wouldn’t want to be connected to a seaport if they could be?”
Federal lobbyists also said they are “maintaining focus” on advocating for I-685 connectivity at the Jan. 6 city council meeting.
As part of the feasibility study, NCDOT’s consulting firm has been meeting with local representatives from Fayetteville and Dunn, Barksdale said, and the firm will eventually come up with a recommended route for the highway based on the study’s findings.
“They are reviewing various kinds of data, such as traffic counts, crash data, environmental issues, land-use and zoning plans, etc,” Barksdale said. “As part of this feasibility study, the firm will come up with a recommended route, which may go around Fayetteville via I-295, along with developing some high-level designs and estimated ROW and construction costs for such a new interstate.”
Barksdale said NCDOT anticipates the feasibility study, cost estimate and route recommendation will be completed by the fall.
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608. This story was made possible by donations from readers like you to CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.
Fayetteville should work on its own infrastructure. The city always seems to shoot itself in the foot on these things.