Interstate 385 (I-385) is an

auxiliary Interstate Highway Auxiliary Interstate Highways (also called three-digit Interstate Highways) are a subset of highways within the United States' Interstate Highway System. The 323 auxiliary routes generally fall into three types: spur routes, which connect to or i ...

located in the Upstate region of

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. I-385 is a spur route of

I-85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, n ...

. The highway provides a connection between Greenville and I-26 to the south, connecting Greenville to Columbia and Charleston. Around Greenville, the last several miles of I-385 forms the northeastern quadrant of a partial

beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

around Greenville's southern suburbs along with I-185.

Route description

After exit 42, I-385 turns into I-385 Business (I-385 Bus.) and becomes East North Street and later—for northbound motorists only—Beattie Place. The business route promptly ends at US Highway 29 (US 29; Church Street) near

Bon Secours Wellness Arena Bon Secours Wellness Arena (formerly the BI-LO Center; The Well) is a multi-purpose arena in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. The arena serves as the home of the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL. History The arena opened as the ...

in downtown Greenville. The explosive economic growth of southern Greenville county is largely attributed to I-385 and its connection to the city of Greenville and the major cities of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and Charlotte (via I-85). This area is known by locals as the "Golden Strip". I-385 features a rather unusual rest area in the median strip near Laurens that serves both directions of traffic. It was completed as part of the original design of the US 276 expressway in 1958, modeled after the type of single median-located rest areas shared by both north and southbound traffic (to save money). The design is similar to many of those built on turnpikes that predated the Interstate System.

History

The general idea—but none of the specifics—of I-385 were present on the 1955 Yellow Book map of the Greenville area. Also of note is that

would have used the

US 29 U.S. Route 29 or U.S. Highway 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida, to Ellicott City, Maryland, just west of Baltimore, Maryland, in the Eastern United States, connect ...

corridor from Greenville east toward

Spartanburg Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-most populous city in the state. The Office of Management and Budg ...

based on the diagram. The portion of I-385 that replaced US 276 (from

South Carolina Highway 417 South Carolina Highway 417 (SC 417) is a state highway in central Greenville and Spartanburg counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of South Carolina. Route description SC 417's western terminus is at junction with U.S ...

C 417in Mauldin to SC 56/ I-26 in

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has also been used as a given nam ...

) was initially the first phase built of a

South Carolina Department of Transportation The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is a government agency in the US state of South Carolina. Its mission is to build and maintain roads and bridges and administer mass transit services. By state law, the SCDOT's function an ...

(SCDOT) plan that predated the Interstate System to upgrade and bypass existing through routes, the goal of forming a single

limited-access highway A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, partial controlled-access highway, and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a contro ...

from Greenville to the port of Charleston via the state capital of Columbia. This plan was scrapped as soon as the future I-26 was added to the act of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

that set into motion the Interstate System. As a result, I-26 was one of the first Interstates in the south to open in significant mileage (most in South Carolina between 1959 and 1963). Before 1985, I-385 was only signed as such from downtown Greenville to I-85. The portion of the freeway from US 276 in Mauldin to the southern terminus at I-26 was signed as US 276. When the connecting portion was completed, the entire freeway was signed as I-385. For seven months ending July 23, 2010, northbound traffic could not use a section of I-385 in Laurens County due to a $60.9-million (equivalent to $ in ) project to pave the portion extending from SC 101 to the I-385/I-26 interchange near Clinton in concrete. The closing of a major highway generated controversy. Closing the Interstate for construction saved approximately $34 million (equivalent to $ in ). Between 2002 and 2012, I-385 was widened from two to three lanes in each direction from just north of exit 24 near Fountain Inn to just south of Woodruff Road/ SC 146 (exit 35), with the portion between exits 31 and 35 resurfaced in concrete. Between February 2016 and January 2020, the I-385/I-85 interchange was overhauled to decrease congestion and related accidents.

Exit list

Interstate 385 Business

Interstate 385 Business (I-385 Bus.) is a

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district. In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...

-grade

business route A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route that branches off a parent numbered highway at its beginning, continues through the central business district of a nearby city or to ...

of I-385 along North Street, between Stone Avenue ( US 276) and Church Street (

). It is an

unsigned highway An unsigned highway is a highway that has been assigned a route number, but does not bear road markings that would conventionally be used to identify the route with that number. Highways are left unsigned for a variety of reasons, and example ...

. Its continuation along North Street becomes SC 183. It also connects to US 123 (Academy Street) and SC 183 (Beattie Place). Signage previously existed for this spur route but, by 2007, has been removed; appears only in the SCDOT Greenville–Spartanburg Metro map.

References

External links