Realtor.com reports that Apex, N.C., a suburb of the Raleigh-Durham area, has faced unprecedented growth in the last half decade, placing a strain on services and infrastructure.
The town’s population boom coincided with two events. In 2012, the state Transportation Department opened North Carolina’s first toll road. For $3, commuters could slash their drive time from Apex to the Research Triangle Park on a new six-lane freeway. And in 2015, Apex was named America’s best place to live by Money magazine.
Apex, nicknamed the Millennial Mayberry, is the fastest-growing suburb in the U.S., according to Realtor.com, and the town is struggling to keep pace with all the newcomers.
After several years of surging urban growth, Apex and suburbs like it now account for 14 of the 15 fastest-growing U.S. cities with populations over 50,000, according to the census.
Apex officials are learning what happens when too many people share the same dream. The town has grown 54% since 2010 to 57,000 people, officials estimate, and could top 100,000 in a decade. More than 11,000 new houses are either planned or under construction.
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