The Unfinished Exit 35 Is Setting the Speed on South Asheville's New I-26

If I-26 from Long Shoals Road toward Hendersonville finally has four lanes going each way for most of the trip, why does the sign still say 55?

Most of the answer sits on a short stretch of interstate just south of the French Broad River, north of the Blue Ridge Parkway, at about mile marker 35. That's where NCDOT is still building a new interchange to a road called Frederick Law Olmsted Way. The lanes are mostly finished. The work zone isn't. NCDOT says the work-zone limit stays until the project is complete, especially that interchange, or until it lifts the restriction. Until then, the corridor South Asheville drives every day keeps running under construction-era rules.

The lanes arrived in two halves this year

The westbound side came first. On July 17, 2026, NCDOT put all four westbound lanes into their final layout from U.S. 64 at Exit 49 in Henderson County to Brevard Road at Exit 33 in Buncombe County. That stretch is 17 miles long, and before the widening it had two lanes the whole way, according to Asheville.com's summary of NCDOT's figures.

The westbound change included the climb near the Parkway bridge, a spot every Arden commuter knows. NCDOT resident engineer Luke Middleton told WLOS that "for the longest time, there's been a slowdown right there at Long Shoals and the Parkway with a lot of the truck traffic having a tough time getting up the hill," and that traffic would now be "a lot more free flowing."

The eastbound side caught up in October. NCDOT planned to open newly completed eastbound lanes between the Pond Road bridge and Long Shoals Road after an overnight closure from 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, to 6 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9. During that closure, drivers were sent onto I-40 East to Hendersonville Road at Exit 50 and then south to Long Shoals or Airport Road. With those lanes open, 828newsNOW reported, eastbound drivers get four lanes for about 12 miles, from I-40 to U.S. 25 at Exit 44 in Hendersonville, and then three lanes on to U.S. 64 at Exit 49.

Westbound is four lanes all the way to Brevard Road. Eastbound narrows to three past Exit 44. Back in July, Middleton said "the eastbound still has a small section where it's just two lanes," right next to the interchange work.

The speed limit is waiting on the work zone to end

Higher limits have already been approved for the Buncombe County section, in both directions. They just aren't in effect yet.

NCDOT spokesperson David Uchiyama explained the hold-up to Asheville Watchdog's John Boyle. As Asheville.com relayed from that Oct. 1 reporting, the 55 mph work-zone limit stays in place until the project is complete, "particularly the new interchange," or until the work-zone limit is lifted. The interchange is expected to be finished "this winter," which doesn't give drivers a specific date for the higher limits.

For a driver going from Biltmore Park to the airport, that 65 mph stretch between Brevard Road and Airport Road is the part of the trip that would change most. It's also the stretch that runs right past the Exit 35 construction.

What Exit 35 actually connects

Frederick Law Olmsted Way East is a two-lane road that starts at Brevard Road, also known as N.C. 191, crosses the French Broad River on a new bridge, and runs to the Pratt & Whitney manufacturing site. The land around it, between I-26 and N.C. 191, is being developed as Biltmore Park West. NCDOT's project page says the private developer built the bridge and the road, and NCDOT reviewed the plans and kept an inspector on site to make sure the work met state standards. The Asheville Citizen-Times reported in 2022 that Biltmore Farms was building them and planned to hand them over to NCDOT.

Exit 35 is NCDOT's part: an interchange plus a short two-lane extension tying that road into I-26. The stated goal is to fix "the lack of network connectivity between N.C. 191 and I-26 in southern Buncombe County" and to handle current and planned growth. The money behind it says a lot about its purpose. In 2022, the Citizen-Times reported $32.5 million secured, with $30 million from the N.C. Department of Commerce and $2.5 million from the Appalachian Regional Commission. By November 2023, Asheville Watchdog reported an NCDOT estimate of $37.3 million for the interchange plus $12.9 million for the connecting road. For comparison, NCDOT estimates the whole 16.9-mile widening from U.S. 64 to Brevard Road at about $531 million.

So the piece NCDOT points to first when asked about the corridor's speed limit is a small slice of the project's cost, built mainly to serve a manufacturing site and a new development area.

How drivers will use it

The design explains why most South Asheville trips will go right past it. The option NCDOT and the Federal Highway Administration picked, called Interchange Concept 3, uses left-side exit and entrance ramps connecting to Asheville-bound, or westbound, I-26 traffic. NCDOT's project page says the exact layout was still being studied, with a regular diamond and a diverging diamond both under consideration.

When the interchange opens, it will help most if you're heading north toward Asheville and want Brevard Road, the Bent Creek side of the river, without taking the I-40 interchange at Exit 33. NCDOT told Asheville Watchdog in 2023 that the road is open to the public and maintained by the state, and that the extension and interchange would be public from both Brevard Road and I-26.

People on foot and bikes get less. The plans include a sidewalk on the north side that ends just west of the interchange. NCDOT said it had no plans to connect the road to greenways or multi-use paths, even though a reader had asked Watchdog about a bike link toward the Arboretum and the Parkway.

Why trucks won't be pushed out of the left lane

That left-side exit has a second effect most drivers haven't heard about. A left-hand exit from I-26 West to Frederick Law Olmsted Way means trucks heading to Brevard Road need to use the left lane. Uchiyama said that rules out banning trucks from the left lane in that area. Before widening began in 2019, there was a left-lane truck restriction. NCDOT says it won't simply bring it back. Instead, the department will look at truck traffic and overall flow once construction is finished and decide then whether changes are needed.

For anyone who drives the Parkway hill westbound in the morning, that means more lanes and trucks spread across all of them, possibly including the far left one.

The closures still to come

More work zone means more closures, and NCDOT has said so.

• French Broad River bridge. In its Oct. 7 release, NCDOT said two lanes on the bridge would close during the day "later this month" so crews can seal it. No dates were given.
• Overnight finishing work. NCDOT has said more overnight closures would be needed for diamond grinding, new pavement markings and concrete joint work. The October list included pavement joints, grinding, and cutting and sealing concrete.
• West of the Parkway bridge. In July, NCDOT estimated about six months of construction left in the section west of the Blue Ridge Parkway bridge, with short lane closures in parts of Buncombe County. Counting from July 17, that runs to around mid-January 2027.
• Exit 35 itself. NCDOT's July update said the interchange should be done by the end of 2026. The October reporting describes it as "this winter." In 2023, the target had been late 2025.

NCDOT's own project summary still lists fall 2026 for completion of the full widening, but that page was last updated in April 2025. The newer releases point to the end of the year, with Exit 35 as the last piece. For South Asheville drivers, 55 mph is the limit through the holidays and possibly into the new year. When Exit 35 opens, the 65 mph stretch to Airport Road is probably close, but the higher limits start only when NCDOT lifts the work-zone restriction.

Biltmore Park West and the Brevard Road side of the river are about to get a direct connection to I-26. At TFM Carolina, we keep up with projects like Exit 35 because they shape how a part of town gets used. If you're wondering what this interchange and the growth around it could mean for your corner of South Asheville, we'd be glad to talk it through with you.