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Did many of us not say that the exit ramps for 540 in Apex/Holly Springs were too short and too sharp? So sad this had to happen. Yes the guy was speeding, but not having been on 540 before he probably had no idea how dangerous the merging onto the town roads would be. What is the cure? Better signage? Man, 20, killed in Apex crash :: WRAL.com
This article says "north of Apex" so I'm not clear on how this is the Holly Springs exit; if it's the one in Cary then it's not THAT bad of a ramp, but I can't think of one exit I've ever been on that I would take at 70 mph. Sometimes it's hard to slow down enough to exit if you've been driving for hours at a high speed.
ETA the N&O said it was the ramp in Apex/Holly Springs.
MANY of the 540 interchanges have this problem. I have no idea why they designed them with such sharp turns, especially in areas where there appears to be enough space to make them more gradual. At a minimum, they need to improve the signage!! Many of the ramps have no warning of the sharp turn.
This article says "north of Apex" so I'm not clear on how this is the Holly Springs exit; if it's the one in Cary then it's not THAT bad of a ramp, but I can't think of one exit I've ever been on that I would take at 70 mph. Sometimes it's hard to slow down enough to exit if you've been driving for hours at a high speed.
ETA the N&O said it was the ramp in Apex/Holly Springs.
Yeah, the article is wrong. That's definitely the south end of Apex. It was on the 55 Bypass, which is the current terminus of 540.
Judging by the photo, I'm guessing he was coming off of 540 onto 55N toward downtown Apex.
He was definitely going way too fast for an off-ramp, but I will say that there are a few on/off-ramps on 540 that appear they were designed by a retarded monkey. This one in particular does an abrupt right jog which, if you miss the warning sign -- you're going to have a really really bad day.
The on-ramps from 64 to 540 are also terrible. They're like abrupt right turns from one high speed road onto another high speed road.
I really hope they correct the 55 ramps when they extend 540.
The last exit on 540 is bad. It caught me off guard my first time and had to brake pretty hard to make the turn properly. I've been behind people who have done the same thing too. Very poor design.
The very first time I exited on the ramp where this accident originated, I found myself abruptly in the right travel lane of 55 thinking I was still on the off ramp. Luckily there was no traffic coming.
This poor guy was from out of state--no chance he could have the special knowledge that navigating this area entails. I remain totally surprised that this design was approved.
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