Possibly The Worst Designed Shopping Plaza Road System I Have Ever Seen. (coupons, shoppers)

[MAtoNC!]

Originally Posted by toadnslug

Comon' now- if Cary spent more money planning and designing streets and shopping plaza parking lots, they wouldnt have money to spend on metal outdoor art and useless steel electric giant ttraffic signs that are never on (If you live in Cary you know what I'm talking about)!

Cary Visual Art Website

Are you referring to this sculpture?
Gateway To Excellence by James T. Russell
- It wasn't paid for by the town

And I saw the traffic sign light the other day advising me about the Christmas Parade. And before I saw it lit up with info about Cary Band Days.

[citydweller]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

I've lived all over the US from FL to NH and from VA to NM and in states in between.

By far the weirdest roads were in Virginia Beach, VA in the hilltop area. If anyone knows what I'm talking about you'd agree!!! Even locals don't know how to use them.

YES! Those service roads are ridiculous! I was just down there the other day and as usual get confused.

[MikeJaquish]

Had to run to Raleigh quick this afternoon, and took the Crossroads Plaza Victory Tour just to quantify how hard/easy it is to get around.

2:40PM
I approached Exit 101 on US 1/64 North and just missed getting the green light on Walnut Street.
No big deal. The traffic passed and I made a right on red, facilitated by the wide open lanes.

2:43PM
Turned left off Walnut into the main Crossroads Plaza entrance, between Pier 1 and Bob Evans.
Truthfully, I went this way because it may be the worst way to access the shopping center.

2:43PM
Turned Right, in NO traffic, onto Caitboo Avenue. Turning left leads into problems, due to the cross traffic, and the number of people accessing the shopping center from the US1/64S flyover from the access road.
This Right onto Caitboo Avenue led past easy access to Office Depot, Bob Evans, Verizon Cellular, (I think) a golf shop, and Bentley's, another unobstructed 200 yards, and I could have easy access to the Stuper Target and Home Depot lots, or cut through to Dillard Drive, which would have given me access to the Centrum and Centrum at Crossroads.

Stayed on Caitboo Avenue, and turned left on Caitboo Drive, in front of the Crossroads 20 Movie Theater. Could have gone left onto Columbus and again accessed Dillard.

2:44PM
End of Caitboo, in front of Capital Mercury-Lincoln, I made a left on Crossroads Blvd. to get back into the shopping center proper.
(Crossroads Blvd. turning West from Jones Franklin Rd. is super easy access into the shopping center.)

2:45PM
At the corner where the light lets folks into the "back" of the shopping center.
To the left I could have gone to Play it Again Sam's, another sporting goods store, Superior Fitness, a few women's clothing stores, Michaels, woe-begotten Linens and Things, and a few others.
I could have gone straight through at this point and been back on the path to Raleigh, US 1/64, after 3 lights.
I chose to do the storefront crawl and turned right, after witnessing a display of Holiday Charity wherein two cars ran the red light to turn left, and the musical duo of drivers in front of me treated everyone within a hundred yards to very long trumpet blasts of their brass sections.

2:47PM
Found me in front of Best Buy, after passing DSW, Honeybaked Ham, Ulta, Dick's, REI, OfficeMax, Plato's Closet and a couple of others.
I proceeded along in front of EmbroidMe, the police outpost, Edible Arrangements, ToysRUs, and hit the stop sign. To the left is the light that feeds you back into the center of the complex, or to US 1/64.
There was a short line, 6 or 7 cars.
I chose to keep going along storefronts, and passed FootAction, and a couple of others. Behind Ruby Tuesdays and in front of the defunct Barbecues Galore, there is an unsignaled access to the US 1/64 Ramp.
I was on it at 2:48PM. And passed Exit 1A to 440/40E at 2:49PM.

In less than 9 minutes I was able to traverse about 80% of the shopping center, with no hassle, and could have been into any store in just a couple of minutes. Finding parking may have been an interesting proposition in some areas, but there was room for parking.

Google shows you the way.

I am not a great fan of how the place is laid out, and understand that it is "a little daunting to first timers" or those who struggle in traffic.

I also think the Centrum at Crossroads complicates things, and produces more traffic and less options, but when I want to go to Best Buy, I find a way to go to Best Buy. And it is NOT hard to get there.
The revisions and improvements to streets and ramps that the Plaza, the Town of Cary and NCDOT installed about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago really do work to make traffic move better.

[MAtoNC!]

A map and directory of stores:
Crossroads Plaza | 2008

[I'minformed2]

Originally Posted by MAtoNC!

Cary Visual Art Website

Are you referring to this sculpture?
Gateway To Excellence by James T. Russell
- It wasn't paid for by the town

And I saw the traffic sign light the other day advising me about the Christmas Parade. And before I saw it lit up with info about Cary Band Days.

from that website, it appears the one I was talking about is called "dancing beams" (third picture down). I'm all for recognizing special olympians...but don't see how that wierd collection of I-beams welded together and painted red does it.

[VickiR]

Ok...if you need directions on how to get in and out of the shopping center, could you ask a neighbor to drive you there?!!

Vicki

[castufari]

Originally Posted by citydweller

YES! Those service roads are ridiculous! I was just down there the other day and as usual get confused.

I grew up there, once you know 'em you love 'em. I always took the service roads to avoid sitting in line with the rest of the traffic. In the hands of a skilled driver they're a time saver. Unless you need to cross VB Blvd and aren't at a light.

[skaternum]

Crossroads was just fine 4 renovations below, before y'all started moving down here, flush with cash from selling your crappy houses for a ransom, clogging up the roads, shopping like there's no tomorrow and practically forcing DOT and the Town of Cary to constantly change the infrastructure around the shopping center.

How'd I do? Did I forget anything?

[lamishra]

Originally Posted by skaternum

Crossroads was just fine 4 renovations below, before y'all started moving down here, flush with cash from selling your crappy houses for a ransom, clogging up the roads, shopping like there's no tomorrow and practically forcing DOT and the Town of Cary to constantly change the infrastructure around the shopping center.

How'd I do? Did I forget anything?

Yeah, you forgot the fact that Crossroads traffic sucked before any of that ever happened. It's been bad since it's original construction and the Town Of Cary which knew full well what growth number would look like 10 years down the road, never had the introspection to fix parts of town that would always be a problem. They can re-route the Crossroads area all they want, but it's still going to be a rough part of town to navigate. Hell, I'm a native and navigate it pretty well, but I'm still always wary over there because I know newbies trying to figure it out have no idea which lane to be in going in and out of there.

[Nortel]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

Had to run to Raleigh quick this afternoon, and took the Crossroads Plaza Victory Tour just to quantify how hard/easy it is to get around.

2:40PM
I approached Exit 101 on US 1/64 North and just missed getting the green light on Walnut Street.
No big deal. The traffic passed and I made a right on red, facilitated by the wide open lanes.

2:43PM
Turned left off Walnut into the main Crossroads Plaza entrance, between Pier 1 and Bob Evans.
Truthfully, I went this way because it may be the worst way to access the shopping center.

2:43PM
Turned Right, in NO traffic, onto Caitboo Avenue. Turning left leads into problems, due to the cross traffic, and the number of people accessing the shopping center from the US1/64S flyover from the access road.
This Right onto Caitboo Avenue led past easy access to Office Depot, Bob Evans, Verizon Cellular, (I think) a golf shop, and Bentley's, another unobstructed 200 yards, and I could have easy access to the Stuper Target and Home Depot lots, or cut through to Dillard Drive, which would have given me access to the Centrum and Centrum at Crossroads.

Stayed on Caitboo Avenue, and turned left on Caitboo Drive, in front of the Crossroads 20 Movie Theater. Could have gone left onto Columbus and again accessed Dillard.

2:44PM
End of Caitboo, in front of Capital Mercury-Lincoln, I made a left on Crossroads Blvd. to get back into the shopping center proper.
(Crossroads Blvd. turning West from Jones Franklin Rd. is super easy access into the shopping center.)

2:45PM
At the corner where the light lets folks into the "back" of the shopping center.
To the left I could have gone to Play it Again Sam's, another sporting goods store, Superior Fitness, a few women's clothing stores, Michaels, woe-begotten Linens and Things, and a few others.
I could have gone straight through at this point and been back on the path to Raleigh, US 1/64, after 3 lights.
I chose to do the storefront crawl and turned right, after witnessing a display of Holiday Charity wherein two cars ran the red light to turn left, and the musical duo of drivers in front of me treated everyone within a hundred yards to very long trumpet blasts of their brass sections.

2:47PM
Found me in front of Best Buy, after passing DSW, Honeybaked Ham, Ulta, Dick's, REI, OfficeMax, Plato's Closet and a couple of others.
I proceeded along in front of EmbroidMe, the police outpost, Edible Arrangements, ToysRUs, and hit the stop sign. To the left is the light that feeds you back into the center of the complex, or to US 1/64.
There was a short line, 6 or 7 cars.
I chose to keep going along storefronts, and passed FootAction, and a couple of others. Behind Ruby Tuesdays and in front of the defunct Barbecues Galore, there is an unsignaled access to the US 1/64 Ramp.
I was on it at 2:48PM. And passed Exit 1A to 440/40E at 2:49PM.

In less than 9 minutes I was able to traverse about 80% of the shopping center, with no hassle, and could have been into any store in just a couple of minutes. Finding parking may have been an interesting proposition in some areas, but there was room for parking.

Google shows you the way.

I am not a great fan of how the place is laid out, and understand that it is "a little daunting to first timers" or those who struggle in traffic.

I also think the Centrum at Crossroads complicates things, and produces more traffic and less options, but when I want to go to Best Buy, I find a way to go to Best Buy. And it is NOT hard to get there.
The revisions and improvements to streets and ramps that the Plaza, the Town of Cary and NCDOT installed about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago really do work to make traffic move better.

You clearly have way too much time on your hands.