Willow Spring man dies in fatal U.S. 401 crash near Fuquay-Varina

A single-vehicle crash on U.S. 401 near Ransdell Road killed a 32-year-old Willow Spring man Friday evening, adding another deadly collision to the busy Fayetteville Road corridor in southern Wake County. The wreck happened less than a mile south of NC Toll 540, where traffic often shifts quickly between suburban driveways, commercial access points and regional commuter routes.

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol identified the driver as Benjamin McNeely. Troopers said McNeely was traveling southbound when his vehicle went off the road to the right, struck an embankment and flipped. He died at the scene from his injuries.

The crash was reported just before 7:55 p.m. and remains under investigation. Troopers said speed and reckless driving were contributing factors, underscoring how quickly a loss of control can turn fatal on a corridor that carries heavy daily traffic through Fuquay-Varina and the growing southern edge of the county.

The wreck also lands in the middle of a larger safety push on U.S. 401. In Garner, the North Carolina Department of Transportation is upgrading more than one mile of the highway, from south of Old Stage Road to south of Mechanical Boulevard, into a six-lane, median-divided roadway. The nearly $26 million project, awarded to Conti Civil LLC, will add turn lanes, reduced-conflict intersections and synchronized traffic signals. NCDOT says the changes are meant to reduce crashes and improve traffic flow.

Broader corridor planning points to an even longer stretch of concern. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization has studied about 19 miles of U.S. 401 from Banks Road in Wake County south through Fuquay-Varina to the N.C. 210 and U.S. 421 intersection in Lillington, a sign that the road’s congestion and crash risk are being evaluated far beyond this single wreck site.

Crash records are tightly controlled under state privacy law. The North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles says a redacted crash report can be requested by mail or in person, and State Highway Patrol reports are generally entered into the system within five to seven business days. A publicly available obituary for Benjamin Scott McNeely of Clayton listed his birth date as Jan. 29, 1994, and his death date as June 6, 2026.