Rest areas along both sides of Interstate 26 near the border between Buncombe and Henderson Counties will close Friday as part of the overall widening project on the road.
The rest areas will close at noon Friday as part of the $534-million project that will expand I-26 to eight lanes from Brevard Road in Asheville to U.S. 25 Business in Fletcher, and to six lanes from there to U.S. 64 in Hendersonville. The overall widening project in Buncombe and Henderson Counties is scheduled to be completed in late 2024.
The current rest areas will be demolished and then used as staging areas for the construction. But both will be rebuilt and will be larger when reopened, though definitive date for that reopening has not been set. Among the upgrades at the new rest areas will be more parking and larger picnic and dog-walking areas.
With these two rest areas closed, the North Carolina Department of Transportation reminds drivers of others it operates in Western North Carolina, including:
• I-26 West at mile marker 66 in Polk County
• I-26 East at mile marker 6 in Madison County
• I-40 West at mile marker 82 in McDowell County
• I-40 East at mile marker 82 in McDowell County
• I-40 East at mile marker 10 in Haywood County (opening this spring)
• U.S. 23/74 West, two miles east of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Haywood County
• U.S. 23/74 East, two miles east of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Haywood County