Development Rushing Down New 540 to Morrisville

With major highway access now in place, developers are using land long held for development but untouched before.

Posted 11:50 p.m. Aug 13, 2007 — Updated 9:11 p.m. Aug 15, 2007

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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