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I am pleasantly unfamiliar with RTP traffic since I work in east Raleigh, however I am contemplating a job offer that would be near the intersection of 55/54. My biggest concern is how the commute would affect my quality of life since I currently have about a 20 minute drive with absolutely no traffic either way. I live in Summerfield North - basically Strickland and Falls of Neuse.
According to google maps the drive time would be 26 minutes (I'm assuming with no traffic), which I wouldn't have a problem with. The traffic feature of google maps shows afternoon slowdowns on 40 from 147 to 540, and on 540 from 70 to Leesville - it doesn't show any slowdowns in the morning. How bad is it? How long should I expect the drive to/from 55/54 to/from Strickland and Falls of Neuse to take during peak rush hour, and what is typical peak traffic times since I can probably adjust my schedule somewhat.
I would love to check out the commute 1st hand but it's not really possible for me right now, and I'm assuming that the traffic this week and next would not really be typical anyway.
Thanks for any first hand knowledge anyone can impart. I apologize if this is a repeat question but I've tried searching this forum and didn't find anything specific.
You would easily take 540 towards I40. The bottleneck is exiting 540 onto I-40 heading to Durham/Chapel Hill. The engineers really messed it up when first done but have added a second exit lane on the ramp. But the traffic merge on to 40 is in a really busy area with the Page Road exit right on top of you. Other than that you are good to go.
540 starts to get congested around 5:30-ish but really isn't that bad compared to a major metro area. It takes me ~ 18 minutes from Miami & Alexander to Creedmor and Strickland.
Falls of the Neuse is traffic/congestion hell, especially with its new bridge being open, old bridge being closed, and the widening between all of them getting ready to widen as we type..........
540 starts to get congested around 5:30-ish but really isn't that bad compared to a major metro area.
I'm not too worried about 540, the big unknown to me is how bad does 40 get from 55 to 540?
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Falls of the Neuse is traffic/congestion hell, especially with its new bridge being open, old bridge being closed, and the widening between all of them getting ready to widen as we type..........
My condolences to anyone who has to deal with this, but that isn't part of my equation since I live off of Strickland and would be entering/exiting 540 from Six Forks.
Morning traffic will likely be easier than evening traffic. In the morning, you may see some backup between Six Forks through Creedmoor. After that, it won't be too bad until the 540/40 merge - but even that is usually not terrible. In the evenings, things get worse. Traffic merging from US-70 causes backups, as does traffic from Leesville. At its worst, it is stop-and-roll for a mile or two, but it isn't terrible.
I live in Summerfield North, last year I was working at 54/55 (Meridian Parkwy). It takes about 25 mins. The 2 lanes on the exit from I540 to I40W helped. Once you get on I40, get in the far left lane and GO till you pass the 147/I40 split, then work you way back over to the right lane for the HWY54 exit. It is not too bad. My office moved this past year to Weston Parkway in Cary. It still takes me about 25mins thru the airport on Aviation to Weston.
You don't mention what time of day you would be on the road. It makes a difference.
The opening of the extra lane onto 40 has eased the congestion that I used to see at 7:15am, and the recent changes made for the new road onto 540 into RTP has eased it up even further. When they start charging for 540 on the other side of 40, I don't know how the traffic will change....the traffic seems to be slower & more congested from 8:15am-8:45am from just after Leesville through to the 40 interchange.
On the way back to North Raleigh, 540 is usually 65mph except for 5:25-5:50 time period when the only really traffic seems to be between the merge from 70 onto 540 -- there is more traffic and it is much slower (30mph?) through to the leesville rd exit.
This is all assuming normal weather and no accidents.
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