North Carolina’s First Buc-ee’s Is Bringing a $50 Million Interchange Overhaul With It

North Carolina’s first Buc-ee’s is still more than a year from opening, but the highway project built to handle its crowds is already reshaping one of the state’s busiest interstate corridors.

A roughly $50 million overhaul at Exit 152 in Mebane is widening Trollingwood-Hawfields Road and rebuilding its interchange with Interstate 40/85. The work is not a private driveway dressed up as a public project. It is a full interchange reconstruction, complete with a wider bridge, additional lanes, new drainage and a diverging-diamond traffic pattern.

The result will serve far more than a single travel center. It will also determine whether a fast-growing part of Alamance County can absorb the traffic generated by a 74-acre roadside destination expected to draw drivers from the Triangle, the Piedmont Triad and well beyond North Carolina.

The road project is halfway built

The interchange work was 50% complete by Oct. 19, with bridge widening 85% complete, water and sewer work 75% complete and stormwater improvements 65% complete, WFMY News 2 reported.

The new configuration will replace a conventional interchange with a diverging diamond. Drivers briefly cross to the opposite side of the roadway between the interstate ramps, allowing left turns onto the highway without crossing oncoming traffic. The design is intended to move heavy turning volumes through fewer conflict points—an important feature at an exit that will soon feed one of the country’s largest travel-center chains.

Construction is already affecting ordinary trips through the area. Crews have closed interstate ramps and lanes at different stages to install storm drains, set bridge beams and complete other work. In September, for example, NCDOT closed the westbound ramps for a weekend of drainage work.

NCDOT expects the interchange project to be complete in fall 2027. That timetable puts the roads ahead of the store’s latest opening estimate.

Buc-ee’s is paying for the work its development requires

The travel center is not covering the entire interchange bill. It is contributing toward the additional improvements required by its traffic impact analysis, while the state’s larger project upgrades the interchange itself.

Under a 2024 agreement, the developer must reimburse NCDOT for all additional roadway improvements required by the Buc-ee’s development, then estimated at $10 million.

State transportation funding covers the broader reconstruction. NCDOT had previously approved $8.5 million for construction and added another $20.2 million in 2025, on top of design, right-of-way and other project costs. The arrangement draws an important distinction: Buc-ee’s is responsible for the traffic work its project adds, but North Carolina is also using the moment to rebuild an interchange serving the wider Mebane area.

A 74-acre travel center with 120 fuel pumps

The planned Buc-ee’s at Trollingwood-Hawfields Road would occupy 74 acres and include 120 gas pumps and 24 electric-vehicle charging stations, according to NCDOT.

Current plans also call for a roughly 74,000-square-foot store, about 600 parking spaces and approximately 200 jobs. Those positions are expected to span food service, retail, maintenance and management, though a full Mebane hiring calendar and final wage schedule have not been announced.

Buc-ee’s has built its expansion strategy around travel centers that function as destinations, not neighborhood convenience stores. That model brings a surge of customers at peak travel times, making road capacity part of the business plan rather than an afterthought.

The opening date has moved to 2028

Recent reports have pointed to an October 2027 opening, but Buc-ee’s now lists Mebane among its estimated 2028 openings and cautions that its dates can change. The company’s schedule is the clearest current guide, while the interchange remains on track for completion in fall 2027.

That gap could give transportation crews time to finish the most disruptive work before the first wave of customers arrives. It also underlines why exact store-opening dates should be treated as estimates until Buc-ee’s announces a firm day.

Mebane may not remain North Carolina’s only Buc-ee’s for long. The company is pursuing a second site near Interstate 95 in Rocky Mount, although that proposal still faces local approvals and has no construction schedule. The Rocky Mount plan would extend the chain’s reach toward the eastern side of the state.

For now, the most visible sign of Buc-ee’s arrival is not a towering beaver logo. It is a bridge, a construction zone and a redesigned interchange taking shape before the store sells its first gallon of gasoline.