Delivering and hauling in Concord, Kannapolis and Cabarrus County, NC

The short version

Concord and Kannapolis sit on I-85 just northeast of Charlotte, in Cabarrus County. Seven I-85 exits serve the county, from Concord Mills at Exit 49 to Lane Street in Kannapolis at Exit 63. [3]

Freight here is growing. Amazon, Chick-fil-A Supply and Eli Lilly run sites in the area, and a large Red Bull canning campus is being built in Concord. [10][11][12][14]

In November 2026, NCDOT has daytime shoulder and ramp maintenance planned along I-85 through the county. Several resurfacing jobs also run at night on US 29 and NC 73. [4][7]

Everything here is as of October 2026. Road work, plant plans and local rules change, so call the receiver and check DriveNC before you roll. [4]

Getting in: the I-85 exits

Heading north from Charlotte, Exit 49 is Bruton Smith Boulevard and Concord Mills Boulevard. It serves Concord Mills mall and Charlotte Motor Speedway. Exit 52 is Poplar Tent Road. [3]

Exit 54 is George W. Liles Parkway on one side and Kannapolis Parkway on the other. It leads toward the North Carolina Research Campus. Exit 55 is NC 73 (Davidson Highway) toward Concord and Huntersville. [3]

Exit 58 is US 29 and US 601 toward Kannapolis and Concord. Exit 60 is Dale Earnhardt Boulevard and Copperfield Boulevard, signed 60A and 60B northbound. Exit 63 is Lane Street in Kannapolis. [3]

The exit list shows Exits 52, 55 and 58 as diverging diamonds, where you briefly cross to the left side of the road. Our tip: watch the signal heads and lane arrows closely at these with a long trailer. [3]

I-85 was widened to eight lanes from Concord Mills to NC 73 between 2010 and 2014. A second widening ran from NC 73 north to NC 152 in China Grove and finished by the end of 2017. [3]

These exit numbers come from a public exit list, not an NCDOT page. Our tip: get the receiver's exit in writing, since Exit 54 has two road names. For the full I-85 corridor, see our I-85 Charlotte to Greensboro guide. [3]

Road work as of October 2026

DriveNC lists I-85 maintenance in Cabarrus for Nov. 2-6 and Nov. 9-13, 2026, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The shoulders close, not travel lanes. [4]

Those listings cover ramps at Concord Mills Boulevard, Poplar Tent Road, George W. Liles Parkway, Kannapolis Parkway, US 29 and Lane Street, plus points on the main line. Our tip: don't count on a shoulder to pull onto in those zones during work hours. [4]

NCDOT is replacing two 75-year-old US 29/601 bridges over Irish Buffalo Creek in Concord. Traffic moved onto a new bridge deck in August 2026, and road work is due to wrap up by fall 2026. [6]

An April 2026 contract resurfaces US 29 from I-85 to Sumner Street and two stretches of NC 73. On those roads, lane closures are limited to 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. The contract runs to fall 2027. [7]

The NC 73 pieces run from the Mecklenburg County line to just before Odell School Road, and from Westgate Circle to Mistletoe Ridge Place NW. Holiday weekends have their own limits on lane closures. [7]

A second contract, announced in October 2026, covers NC 200, Cabarrus Avenue West and six smaller roads, including Commerce Drive SW in Concord. Cabarrus Avenue West work is overnight only. The finish date is spring 2028. [8]

Gold Hill Road is closed at Dutch Buffalo Creek in eastern Cabarrus for a bridge replacement. The posted detour uses St. Johns Church, Mt. Olive and Cline School roads. NCDOT expects the bridge to reopen in mid-2027. [9][4]

Charlotte Motor Speedway race traffic

The speedway sits off I-85 Exit 49 in Concord. Race weekends load up I-85, US 29, NC 49 and Bruton Smith Boulevard in southwest Cabarrus and northeast Mecklenburg. [5][3]

For the Oct. 9-11, 2026 NASCAR weekend, NCDOT said phone maps push most drivers onto Bruton Smith Boulevard. It asked race traffic to use US 29 when possible. [5]

NCDOT told I-85 commuters to allow extra time or take another route, especially on the weekend. After races, it said, all traffic gets sent away from the speedway. [5]

NCDOT also pointed Concord Mills shoppers to I-485 Exit 28 (Mallard Creek Road) to skip the I-85 mall exit, and ran its IMAP highway helper trucks for longer hours around the races. [5]

That fall weekend has passed. Our tip: for any speedway event, avoid Exit 49 and nearby deliveries in the hours before and after. Check DriveNC and NCDOT news ahead of time. [5][4]

Who ships and receives here

Amazon's June 2025 vendor list puts its CLT3 fulfillment center at 6500 Davidson Highway, listed as Concord. Our NC distribution centers guide covers Amazon's other sites. [11]

In January 2025, Kannapolis announced a second Amazon site with about 100 jobs at 6255 Shumard Street. It's in the 85 Exchange Industrial Park, near the center at Kannapolis Parkway and NC 73. [10]

Kannapolis also lists Chick-fil-A Supply's second North Carolina distribution center ($58 million, 2023) and the arrival of Alta Warehousing and Logistics in 2024. [10]

Eli Lilly opened its Concord plant in June 2024. WSOC reported a $2 billion investment and 600 jobs, with the site set to package and ship medicines worldwide. [12][13]

When the state announced the plant in January 2022, the figure was $1 billion. The higher number came at the opening. Our NC pharma freight guide covers Lilly's other sites. [13][12]

Red Bull, Rauch and Ball began building a canning and distribution campus in Concord in September 2025. It sits on the former Philip Morris plant site, now called The Grounds. [14][15]

Reports put it at about 2.3 million square feet, plus an 800,000-square-foot Ball can plant. Operations are expected in 2028, with up to 700 jobs. Our tip: that means construction freight first. [14][15]

The cost figures differ: one trade report says $1.5 billion and another says $1.7 billion. Both expect full output by 2031, with up to 3 billion cans a year. [14][15]

We didn't find dock hours or gate rules for any of these sites. Get the gate, the window and any check-in steps from the load tender or the receiver. [10][11][12]

Truck bans and posted bridges

NCDOT's truck restriction table, dated March 5, 2024, bans trucks on NC 73 in Cabarrus between NC 3 and US 29/601. The table gives road names only, not mile points. [2]

The same table bars through trucks from Skyland Drive between NC 73 and NC 49. Skyland Drive is also on NCDOT's October 2026 resurfacing list. [2][8]

The table has no Cabarrus row limiting trucks in the left lanes of I-85. The Mecklenburg row for I-85 ends at Sugar Creek Road in Charlotte. [2]

None of the Cabarrus listings on DriveNC carried a height, width or weight limit when we checked on Oct. 29, 2026. Work zone signs still rule. [4]

NCDOT's Oct. 9, 2026 table of posted primary-route bridges has one Cabarrus row. NC 49 over Little Buffalo Creek is posted at 40 tons single and 43 tons tractor-trailer. Its map point is in eastern Cabarrus. [1]

We didn't find a Concord or Kannapolis truck route ordinance. NCDOT says towns can't ban trucks from state highway system roads, but town street signs still apply. [19]

Parking your rig in Concord

Concord's code bars tractor-trailers, transfer trucks and oil trucks from parking or standing on streets in residential districts from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. [18]

It also bars storing a tractor-trailer in a residential district unless it's fully screened from view. In commercial or industrial zones, trucks must stay 25 feet from a residential district. [18]

Our guide to parking trucks on residential streets covers Concord's rules in more detail, along with nine other NC cities. [18]

Rest areas, scales and a call-ahead checklist

The I-85 rest areas at mile marker 59, about a mile north of Concord, have 21 truck spaces on each side, according to DriveNC as of October 2026. [16]

Both sides opened in 1981 and were renovated in 2012. They have restrooms, vending machines and picnic areas. Our rest area guide compares them with other I-85 stops. [16]

The Highway Patrol lists no weigh station in Cabarrus. The closest on its list are the I-85 station about 10 miles southwest of Charlotte and the Statesville station on I-40. Our weigh stations guide lists the rest. [17]

Before a Concord or Kannapolis run, check DriveNC for I-85 maintenance and night resurfacing on US 29 and NC 73. Also note the NC 73 and Skyland Drive truck bans and any speedway events. [2][4][5][7]