RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Apple could start building its new campus in Research Triangle Park as soon as 2026. The development of the East Coast campus is expected to impact the entire Triangle community drastically.
“It’s really going to change the area in that there will be lots of cottage industry and ancillary benefits when Apple comes to town,” said Morrisville Mayor TJ Cawley.
On 281 acres of land in Wake County, Apple plans to build its new hub. Hundreds of pages of newly obtained documents show the extent of Apple’s expansion and new campus.
A traffic study done by engineering firm Kimley-Horn in May indicates construction should start in 2026. The area just north of Little Drive and N.C. 540 Toll, in Research Triangle Park, will soon be transformed.
“Well, initially it goes by fast, right,” said Morrisville Councilmember Steve Rao. “2021, we were, you know, excited about it, Gov. Cooper’s announcement, and then two years go by, you don’t really hear anything and then all of a sudden you hear rumblings.”
Each document filed is one step closer to the campus becoming a reality.
“It’s quite exciting,” Rao said.
Apple made a promise in 2021 when the announcement was first made, to bring 3,000 jobs to the area as part of a $1 billion investment in North Carolina.
The minimum average wage for the jobs is expected to be $187,000.
For all of their new employees, Apple is planning to build about 700,000 square feet of office space. A proposal indicates they want six buildings, plus parking.
Experts believe there will be more than 5,550 “new daily vehicular trips each day.”
CBS 17 asked Mayor Cawley how the town will make sure that doesn’t become a traffic nightmare.
“Well, it has been a traffic nightmare for many years,” Cawley said.
Cawley said commuter traffic is already a problem for the town. He hopes plans for a bridge will help over N.C. 54 at McCrimmon Parkway and Airport Boulevard.
“We’re doing everything we can with intersection improvements and trying to change things a little bit, and up near the campus we are going to do some improvements on Davis Drive for the intersection,” Cawley said.
The engineering firm broke down where they believe the increased traffic will come from, to assist with the traffic study. For example, it is estimated that 20 percent of the traffic will go to and from the east on N.C. 540.
That means the area around the campus will change a lot, too.
The firm has recommended the construction of turn lanes, intersections with egress lanes, and new traffic signals to help control the unprecedented level of cars in the area.
CBS 17 learned from the traffic study that the North Carolina Department of Transportation is also looking at extending Interstate-885 south of N.C. 540 to create a direct connection to Davis Drive, to help divert traffic.
The firm also wrote that Cary town officials have also funded a project to widen O’Kelly Chapel Road, between Green Level Church Road and N.C. 55, to help with traffic flow.
Cawley also hopes a plan to widen N.C. 54 will help. That is a North Carolina Department of Transportation project, but currently, there’s no estimate of when that construction could begin.
