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Storyline

The I-85 access road into Hillsborough, 1962–1964

The new road and high bridge carrying traffic from Interstate 85 up South Churton Street into Hillsborough: the 1962 hearing, the right of way, the 1963 postponement and the bids, and the bridge’s opening in 1964.

In briefWhether to bring a new road from Interstate 85 into Hillsborough set opponents against merchants in 1962 and 1963. At a 1962 hearing on the $338,000 federal project, artist Edmund Strudwick said he did not want more cars coming up Churton Street, though the News called the opposition thin. In May 1963 the State Highway Department put the road off and an eastern bypass was proposed; the News's Hillsborough columnist credited pressure on the governor organized by Mrs. Alfred Engstrom and the Historical Society board, while merchants protested. Bids were opened that August, and the access road and a new Eno bridge opened in the summer of 1964, taking traffic off the 1922 bridge.

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The full story

At a public hearing in Hillsboro on August 16, 1962 on a proposed $338,000 federal project for a new access road and bridge into town, artist Edmund Strudwick spoke against it, saying he did not want more cars coming up Churton Street; the News called the opposition thin. By November state highway agents were buying right of way for the road from Interstate 85, with a new bridge over the Eno River. In late May 1963, just before the contract was to be let, the State Highway Department put the road off and an eastern bypass was proposed instead. The News's Hillsborough columnist said the change came from pressure on the governor organized by Mrs. Alfred Engstrom and the Historical Society board, while merchants protested. The town voted on July 9 to pay $2,000 toward the right of way, and on August 27 the Highway Commission opened bids on the 1.129-mile relocation of SR 1009 from I-85 north to a point south of Margaret Lane; C. C. Mangum, Inc., of Raleigh was low at $351,925.19. The new bridge, 375 feet long and 55 feet above the river and built for about $450,000 in state and federal money, opened with the access road in the summer of 1964 and took traffic off the 1922 bridge.

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 5 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Edmund Strudwick speaks against a new federal access road and bridge into Hillsborough At a public hearing in Hillsborough on a proposed $338,000 federal project for a new access road and bridge into the town, artist Edmund Strudwick opposed it, saying he did not want more cars coming up Churton Street. The News of Orange County called the opposition thin. People: Edmund StrudwickSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 23, 1962, section II, p. 1
  2. State highway agents begin buying right of way for the new I-85 access road into Hillsboro State Highway Department representatives called on Hillsboro-area property owners to secure right of way for the new access road from Interstate 85 into town, the first public sign the project had been approved since a hearing months earlier. The road, with $400,000 in federal funds, called for a new bridge over the Eno River and a straight approach to town.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 8, 1962, p. 10
  3. The state postpones the I-85 access road into Hillsborough The State Highway Department put off the long-sought access road from Interstate 85 into Hillsborough just before the contract was to be let in June, and an eastern bypass was proposed instead. The News's Hillsborough columnist said the change came from pressure on the governor organized by Mrs. Alfred Engstrom and the Historical Society board, while merchants protested. People: Mary Claire EngstromSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 6, 1963, p. 11
  4. Bids are opened for the new access road from Interstate 85 into Hillsboro The State Highway Commission opened bids on the 1.129-mile relocation of SR 1009 from Interstate 85 north to a point south of Margaret Lane, and C. C. Mangum, Inc., of Raleigh was low at $351,925.19, subject to approval on September 5. The route crosses the Eno at the south end of Churton Street, and the town had voted on July 9 to pay $2,000 as its share of the right of way.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 29, 1963, p. 1
  5. The new high bridge over the Eno opens on South Churton Street The 375-foot bridge, 55 feet above the river and built for about $450,000 with state and federal money, opened with the new access road from Interstate 85 into Hillsborough in the summer of 1964, taking traffic off the 1922 bridge.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 27, 1964, p. 6 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 30, 1964, p. 10; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 26, 1964, p. 1; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 10, 1964, p. 21

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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