Mixed feelings toward Diverging Diamond Interchange in Leland

LELAND, NC (WWAY) —  The Diverging Diamond Interchange at NC 133 and US 74/76 in Leland has been open for a few days now, but there is still a lot of confusion on how it all works.

There is a lot of mixing feelings toward the Diverging Diamond Interchange.

“It sucks, it’s a mess,” one driver said.

“Traffic is so much better now,” another driver said.

Leland resident Ashleigh Walker says she likes the new road pattern.

“In the end when people get used to it then it will stop the hold up of a lot of traffic,” Walker said.

The interchange opened Sunday, but some say they haven’t seen a decrease in traffic back ups.

“I think it’s worst right now because people don’t know,” Walker said. “People have to get use to it and also they just want to stop and look so they are just checking everything out.”

Many drivers have taken to the Leland NC Traffic Reports Facebook page to express concerns such as the right turning lanes coming off of the exit ramp from US 74/76 on to Village road.

There’s a sign that says “No turn on red” but many say that’s hard to see.

NCDOT Engineer Wanda James says those signs were added Sunday because people were running through that spotlight.

“We put ‘No turn on red’ because we saw them making those merge turns and we’ve had a lot of near misses with the straight through traffic on NC 133,” James said.

James says the placement of the signs are temporary but because it was not called for in the original plans, the signs were posted on a pole near by.

As for all of the cones, they will be moved and replaced with cement medians, but James says that probably won’t happen before November.

“Pay attention to the signs,” James said. “Pay attention to the traffic signals.”

The diverging diamond is a part of the Leland Causeway project which is expected to be finished in November.