The last piece of the loop around the Triangle ends in Knightdale, and it is expected to be finished by 2028. If you are buying anywhere in eastern Wake County right now, you are buying on one side or the other of that date, and it is worth understanding what is actually being built before you decide it matters.
Complete 540 finishes the outer loop that has been drawn on Triangle maps for decades. Phase 1 handled the southwestern leg. Phase 2 takes it from I-40 up to I-87 at Knightdale, which is the piece that puts eastern Wake County on the loop for the first time.
The stated aim is relieving traffic on I-440, I-40, I-87, N.C. 42, N.C. 55 and Ten-Ten Road, and connecting Apex, Cary, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Clayton and Raleigh to one another without routing everything through the middle of the city.
For a Knightdale, Wendell or Zebulon household, the practical question is narrower: does it shorten the drives you personally make? A loop helps most if your destination is on the loop. If you commute into downtown Raleigh, the existing US-64 corridor may still be your route, and the new road may change your day very little.
There is a useful precedent, because Phase 1 has already happened. Eighteen miles from the N.C. 55 Bypass in Apex to I-40 in Garner, opened to traffic on 25 September 2024.
Look at the towns it opened into, as they sit in the twelve months to July 2026 in Doorify MLS closed-sale records:
| Town | Median sale price | Median $/sq ft | Median days on market, resale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apex | $614,000 | $241 | 56 |
| Garner | $409,000 | $184 | 59 |
| Clayton | $370,000 | $187 | 66 |
| Knightdale | $385,000 | $182 | 64 |
| Zebulon | $359,000 | $181 | 69 |
Be careful what you conclude from that. Apex was expensive long before the road, for reasons that have nothing to do with it. Garner and Clayton sit close to Apex and Knightdale on price per square foot despite the road already being open. A single highway is one input among many — schools, jobs, land supply, builder activity — and separating its effect from everything else is not something an honest broker will claim to have done.
What can be said plainly: the towns on the completed leg are selling briskly, at 56 to 66 days for a resale, and none of them collapsed or spiked because of it.
The market Phase 2 will open into, as of July 2026:
| Town | Homes for sale | New construction | Median sale price | Closings, 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knightdale | 171 | 50% of closings | $385,000 | 613 |
| Wendell | 295 | 67% of closings | $398,250 | 994 |
| Zebulon | 276 | 61% of closings | $359,000 | 766 |
| Rolesville | 128 | 66% of closings | $435,000 | 315 |
Two things stand out. First, this is a new-construction market — half to two thirds of everything closing is new. Builders committed to eastern Wake long before Phase 2 broke ground, which is itself evidence the road was priced in years ago.
Second, supply is substantial. Knightdale aside, these towns are carrying several hundred active listings each, and only 7% of Knightdale sellers beat their original asking price in the year to July 2026 — the lowest share of the twenty towns we track. Whatever the road does in 2028, it is not creating a seller's market today.
This is the honest version of "buy before the road." Anticipation is already in the price. What you are actually buying is a house, at today's number, in a market where the buyer currently has leverage. That is a decent position on its own merits.
Complete 540 is part of the Triangle Expressway. It is tolled.
If you would use it to commute daily, that is a recurring household cost that belongs in your budget alongside the mortgage, the taxes and the insurance — not a rounding error. Some households will use it every day; others will use it occasionally and take the free roads the rest of the time. Both are reasonable, but decide which you are before you count the road as a benefit of a particular house.
Check current toll rates with the North Carolina Turnpike Authority rather than trusting a figure from an article. They change.
If you want to look at what is actually available near the corridor today, start with the Knightdale market guide, or every Knightdale listing live from the MLS.
Thinking about timing a purchase or a sale around the 540 opening? We will give you the street-level read — including when we think waiting is the better call. Talk to us.
Project details reflect North Carolina Department of Transportation information and reporting as of July 2026; schedules for projects of this size can change, and current status should be confirmed with NCDOT. Market figures are Doorify MLS closed-sale records for the trailing twelve months to 25 July 2026. Nothing here is a prediction or guarantee of future property values.
Median and mean days on market for 20 towns east and south of Raleigh, split new construction versus resale and by price band, straight from 18,165 Doorify MLS closed sales.
Twenty towns near Raleigh ranked by what buyers actually paid per square foot in the last twelve months of Doorify MLS closings — plus tax rate, drive time, and where cheap means thin inventory.
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