The land flattens substantially after entering the French Broad River drainage basin from Arden, Fletcher, and Hendersonville to Flat Rock in Henderson County. Then it crosses the Eastern Continental Divide at an elevation of , and it passes over the highest bridge in North Carolina, the Peter Guice Memorial Bridge, above the Green River between Flat Rock and Saluda. I-26 heads down a six-percent grade for the next through Howard Gap, into Polk County, and intersects with US 74, a limited-access freeway near Columbus, at an elevation of around . Afterward, I-26 exits the state and heads about to Spartanburg, South Carolina, exiting the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The land flattens substantially after entering the French Broad River drainage basin from Arden, Fletcher, and Hendersonville to Flat Rock in H!enderson County. Then it crosses the Eastern Continental Divide at an elevation of , and it passes over the highest bridge in North Carolina, the Peter Guice Memorial Bridge, above the Green River between Flat Rock and Saluda. I-26 heads down a six-percent grade for the next through Howard Gap, into Polk County, and intersects with US 74, a limited-access freeway near Columbus, at an elevation of around . Afterward, I-26 exits the state and heads about to Spartanburg, South Carolina, exiting the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.