Planning Board - 110420 Attachment 1

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Page 2 kimley-horn.com 300 Morris Street, Suite 200, Durham NC 27701 919 682 3583  210,000 SF Shopping Center  20-Pump Convenience Store; 40,000 SF Gym; 110,000 SF Shopping Center; 60,000 SF Medical Office  20-Pump Convenience Store; (2) 5,000 SF Fast Food Restaurants: 85,000 SF Shopping Center; 60,000 SF Medical Office Even if the Buc-ee’s project or another similar land use did not propose access onto the service road, the projected traffic volumes would cause failure of the service road weaving area from a capacity perspective. Finally, even without any additional development of the property in question, ambient traffic growth alone is estimated to cause failure of the subject weaving segment in approximately 10 to 15 years. Additionally, safety concerns, potentially leading to high-speed crashes, are likely to arise before capacity of the weaving segment is reached, which would require NCDOT to ultimately make similar interchange modifications using public funds. Based on the information summarized above, NCDOT is requiring closure of I-40/85 Westbound Exit 160 and associated mitigation measures to accommodate redirected traffic volumes to Exit 161 as part of this project at the developer’s expense. The applicant intends to modify interstate signage such that westbound I-40/85 traffic is directed to Efland via Exit 161 to maintain a dedicated Efland exit and provide clear direction for local traffic. While we recognize that these changes will cause minor deviations to local traffic patterns, the safety and long-term capacity of the transportation system will be improved at the expense of the developer. Please contact me at (919) 653-5874 or via email at earl.lewellyn@kimley-horn.com if you have additional questions. Sincerely, Earl Lewellyn, P.E. Vice President cc: Chuck Edwards, PE, NCDOT 1056