Amid surging growth, possibility of US 401 bypass has Fuquay-Varina torn

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is conducting a study of the need for a bypass along U.S. Highway 401 around Fuquay-Varina and widening the highway to four lanes from Fuquay-Varina to Lillington.

Fuquay-Varina Mayor John Byrne feels the current, two-lane highway is overloaded and big trucks need a quicker way to get in and around the town.

"It's a road that's needed," said Byrne. "The bypass is a piece that's been on the drawing board for many years. It's not new."

One family is staunchly opposed to the expansion as it's personal for them. They said their farm would be be bulldozed if one version of the bypass presented became a reality. Their farm has been on family-owned land for eight generations.

It's situations such as that which lead to "Save Our Farms" and "Stop The 401 Bypass" signs posted all over town.

Matthew Olive feels the emotion behind those signs as his family own a nursery called Olive's Tree Farm. One preliminary map has the four-lane road going right through the farm. The family has refused many offers from developers to sell the land.

"I've worked this land since I was 8, 10 years old," Olive said. "All our life savings are in this, everything we've ever worked for."

The proposed bypass is still in the study phase and no official route has been chosen. Some forecasts have Fuquay-Varina tripling in size over the next 25 years. Like a lot of the growth in the Triangle area, commercial and residential expansion is spilling out into places that surround Raleigh, like southern Wake County.

"There's a lot that we give to the community, it's just kind of a shame that someone drawing a map can tear that in half," Olive said.

"We are going to get that public input. There's always going to be public engagement," said transportation planner Kenneth Withrow.