North Carolina’s first Buc-ee’s has reached a visible milestone before a single Beaver Nugget is sold. Since our update on the Mebane Buc-ee’s timeline shifting to 2028, the $50.5 million highway project serving the site has reached 50% completion.
That halfway figure applies to the road and interchange work—not the Buc-ee’s building itself. It is still meaningful progress for a project that depends on major traffic upgrades around Exit 152 from Interstates 40 and 85 in Alamance County.
Several pieces are further than halfway
WFMY News 2 reported on October 19 that the overall road project was about 50% complete, citing North Carolina Department of Transportation spokesperson Roger Sockman. The bridge widening was reported at 85% complete, while water and sewer utility work had reached 75% and stormwater improvements were 65% finished.
The work includes widening Trollingwood-Hawfields Road and rebuilding the interchange as a diverging diamond. That design is meant to move turning traffic more efficiently and help the area handle the extra vehicles expected once Buc-ee’s opens.
Road construction began in April 2025 and remains expected to wrap up in fall 2027. That schedule should not be confused with a store opening date: completing the public-road work is one part of preparing the site, and Buc-ee’s has not announced a grand-opening day. Motorists may therefore see the new interchange take shape well before Buc-ee’s is ready to announce an opening celebration.
The opening year remains an estimate
The official Buc-ee’s opening schedule currently lists Mebane for 2028 and warns that its dates are estimates that may change. That is newer guidance than the fourth-quarter 2027 target discussed earlier in the project.
For now, 2028 is the safest year for travelers to keep in mind. An exact month has not been finalized publicly, so reports naming October or November 2027 no longer match the company’s current online schedule.
What North Carolina is getting
The travel center is being built at 1425 Trollingwood-Hawfields Road. Plans call for a roughly 74,000-square-foot store with 120 fueling positions. The project is also expected to create more than 200 full-time jobs.
This is a real construction update, not another opening-date prediction. The biggest change since the previous timeline story is the new progress report: the supporting road project is halfway done, and several of its most complicated components are well beyond that point.
North Carolina drivers still have a wait ahead, but the work needed to make the state’s first Buc-ee’s accessible is steadily moving forward. The next milestone worth watching will be completion of the interchange work—or a firm opening date directly from Buc-ee’s.
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