Buc-ee's coming to Mebane brings jobs, traffic concerns and road upgrades
Buc-ee’s is reshaping Exit 152 before it opens, with road widening, new turn lanes and a projected 200-plus jobs on the way to Mebane.
The Buc-ee’s site off Exit 152 in Mebane is already changing traffic patterns before the first customer buys a soda. Crews have begun widening Trollingwood-Hawfields Road and rebuilding ramp access near Interstates 40 and 85, part of the work needed to handle a travel center expected to bring 120 gas pumps, about 652 parking spaces and 24 EV charging stations to Alamance County.
North Carolina’s first Buc-ee’s is rising at 1425 Trollingwood-Hawfields Road, where the Texas-based chain broke ground in November 2025 after site work began late last year. The planned store will be about 74,000 to 75,440 square feet, roughly the size of a large supermarket, and Buc-ee’s says the Mebane location should create more than 200 full-time jobs once it opens.
The opening timeline has already shifted. Early reporting pointed to May 2027, but later estimates moved the opening to the fourth quarter of 2027. In the meantime, the project has become one of the biggest retail and transportation changes in eastern Alamance County, drawing attention from commuters who use the I-40 and I-85 corridor every day and from nearby businesses watching how much traffic will spill onto local roads.
Mebane City Council approved the project in January 2024 after a public hearing that drew 217 people and 60 speakers, showing how quickly the travel center became a local flashpoint. Buc-ee’s vice president for real estate and development, Stan Beard, has said the company’s investment in the Mebane store will be about $91 million, while road-improvement costs have been estimated at between $6 million and $11 million. Another report put Buc-ee’s share of the road-work budget at about $10 million out of $38.7 million.
Transportation officials and Buc-ee’s are counting on those upgrades to keep the interchange moving once the store opens. The changes include widening Trollingwood-Hawfields Road and improving ramp access near the interstate, a necessary response to a site that could draw 5 million to 6 million travelers a year and generate about $1.8 million in annual sales-tax revenue for Alamance County.
Not everyone sees the project as a pure win. Hawfield’s General Store manager Kyle Kirchner has said smaller shops could be hurt when Buc-ee’s opens, even as Mebane keeps adding retail and housing around the same corridor. For Alamance County, the arrival is more than a brand-name stop. It is a test of whether jobs, tax revenue and regional traffic can be balanced against congestion and competition on one of the county’s busiest roads.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
