Development Rushing Down New 540 to Morrisville

Morrisville, N.C. — The new section of N.C. Highway 540 in western Wake County has been open barely one month, and already growth is sprouting up around it on land developers have just been waiting to use.

The new section takes drivers from Interstate 40 into Morrisville. Developers bought land around the highway right-of-way years ago, and now they are turning the fields and woods into shopping hubs.

The stores are hardly the only growth. Subdivisions are popping up like row crops that were once the hottest commodity in a farming town. It’s part of a development movement that is using up one acre an hour in Wake County.

“It is straining Morrisville, you know — hopefully we'll be able to keep up,” said Amber Krahwinkel, who lives in a house that dates from a quieter time in town.

Wal-Mart and Sam's Club will anchor Shiloh Crossing, just off the intersection of N.C. Highway 54 and the new N.C. 540.

“Shiloh Crossing is the largest retail development in the history of the town,” Planning Director Ben Hitchings said.

Also on the way, also because of 540, is Park West Village, a mix of retail, office, and residential development.

“(N.C.) 540 provides great access for the community, both folks coming in to do business and people who live here trying to get to points elsewhere. These retailers know the advantages of being located right near the interchanges,” Hitchings said.

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Found it...

The story posted: May. 15, 2007

Debate Over I-540 Tolls Rages Before Apex Council Toll Roads

The toll would be 10 cents per mile, about $2 for whole stretch. It will ultimately be all electronic, something like the EZ Pass system used in other states to let drivers speed through toll stations while a device in the car connects with the booth electronically and charges the driver's account.

Greyhound_Girl
August 14, 2007 2:43 p.m.

jahausa, I believe that at one time on the news I had heard they were considering charging $2 per vehicle.

Greyhound_Girl
August 14, 2007 2:40 p.m.

The new 540 junction is only adding to the mess in Morrisville. As a Morrisville resident for the past 4 years, I've seen the traffic and congestion only worsen. The Town government is incompetent. Purely a rubber stamp board. They will approve any and all construction projects except road improvements. Morrisville does not have the infrastructure to support the projects being approved. It's a shame the Town gov't won't wake up to that before the Town is destroyed.

sepc17
August 14, 2007 1:54 p.m.

Isn't it great that the state of NC invested YOUR money so that developers can prosper and YOU get left with the mess? Eventually the area of Morrisville near the new 540 interchanges will be so blighted and congested that it will be uninhabitable by all but the working drones who've already given up on the notion of "quality of life". By then the developers, now suitably enriched, will be off to find another town government eager to cash in on their vacant land.

Beachnut
August 14, 2007 12:57 p.m.

Raleigh needs to realize.... sub developments and shopping malls need two things - water and electricity - things that don't seem to be in abundance now and the more you build the more is required. Development is great ! Why not try and develop the some of the existing places that are vacant.

There is nothing wrong with leaving a bit of country side to the urban world. Everyone is after the "fast" dollar.