I-26 East into Asheville, NC

[@TransCanadaPhil]

i always love the blue appearance of mountains. It's because they are far enough away that you are seeing the cumulative effect of atmosphere that you normally don't see between yourself and land on flatter areas (because the land that far away is normally below the horizon already) :-)

[@GLIDashcam]

Asheville is beautiful, indeed the Freeways aren't though lol. Great video as always!

[@dontgetlost4078]

Considering the comparatively little space the freeways take compared to most other cities in the country thanks to short merges and narrow shoulders, the network reminds me of Italian expressways. Because despite having the Interstate designation, these are actual expressways, not freeways. Except for the parts right next to downtown, how difficult should it be to just widen the shoulder lane in each direction?

[@MrSniperFromMars]

Widening the shoulders up to downtown wouldn’t be difficult, in fact, some of the bridges are currently being replaced (you see this in the video) or have already been replaced. The issue is the stretch through Asheville, as I-26 runs through the city. Asheville has grown densely around the freeway so there is hardly any room to expand. A bypass is likewise difficult due to the mountainous terrain. So NCDOT is stuck between a rock and a hard place to figure out how to improve that stretch. From what I understand, a plan was in the works but was paused due to budget constraints. I have a feeling the existing system will have to make do for a while, unfortunately.