For Julea Danielson, that means the most efficient route to drop off her kids and get herself to the office is not the straightest.

By 8:15 a.m. on weekdays Danielson has her sons Grant, 5, and Adam, 2, packed into her Chrysler Pacifica. Grant goes to his bus stop so he can be taken to school. Adam travels with Mom to his north Cary daycare, which is around the corner from Danielson’s work as a business process analyst at SAS Institute.

“I’m a creature of habit,” Danielson said.

Danielson, 37, moved with her husband Matthew and the boys from Kildaire Farms in central Cary to Amberly in far west Cary early last year.

The commute to SAS, on North Harrison Avenue, from Kildaire Farms was fairly quick and easy for Danielson, who grew up in Cary.

The longest stretches of the trip to work, along interstates 540 and 40, are still usually quick and easy. But getting to the freeway is the trick.

Danielson turns right out of the neighborhood onto Carpenter Fire Station Road, turns left at Green Level to Durham Road and right on McCrimmon Parkway.

McCrimmon Parkway is one of the highlights of her commute.

“That wonderful road that’s out there in the middle of nowhere … you know it’s planned for something,” Danielson said.

“Cary did a wonderful job of creating northwest Cary the way that they did with the roads that they built.”

Carpenter Fire Station Road east of Green Level to Durham, on the other hand, draws Danielson’s ire.

“That road doesn’t work,” she said.

Danielson said that with one lane, traffic on Carpenter Fire Station Road would back up seemingly interminably at N.C. 55.

An alternate route

As soon as she found McCrimmon Parkway, Danielson learned it was faster for her to take that road to N.C. 55, turn right on N.C. 55, turn left on Carpenter Fire Station and work her way into Cary.

The opening of I-540 last summer mooted that issue. Now Danielson turns left from McCrimmon Parkway on to N.C. 55 to reach the freeway.

One last snag often catches her before she hits the highway. The traffic light at her beloved McCrimmon Parkway and N.C. 55 short cycles.

“It only stays green [for about] 10 seconds,” Danielson said.

She has counted as few as six cars in her lane getting through on a cycle at that light.

She said she often sits through three cycles, each of which lasts about two or three minutes.

By this time it’s usually 8:30 a.m. Danielson has been on the road for 15 minutes and gone about 2.3 miles.

Once she gets onto N.C. 55 “it’s clear sailing from there,” Danielson said.

Danielson merges right on to I-540. “It’s usually me and about 10 or 15 other cars,” she said.

“I love my 540 and I’m really treasuring it because in five or 10 years 540 is going to be like every other road,” said Danielson, who expects more traffic on the highway. “I’m enjoying it while it lasts because I know it’s going to go away.”

After reaching I-40, traffic typically remains manageable for Danielson because her route goes against the bulk of the traffic, which is westbound heading into Research Triangle Park.

“I can usually keep the speed limit,” Danielson said.

After she exits on North Harrison Avenue, she wends her way through a shopping center to get to Adam’s day care facility. Once Adam is dropped off, Danielson makes her way back through the strip mall to North Harrison Avenue, where she turns left. A dedicated right-turn lane goes into the SAS campus.

“I think that extra lane helps us a lot,” Danielson said.

Door to door, home to office, the morning trip is about 30 minutes.

After work

Danielson adds another 20 minutes to her drive home.

She modifies her evening route significantly because not only does she pick up Adam, Danielson also picks up Grant. Grant spends afternoons at after-school daycare.

Once Adam is in the car, Danielson heads south and west on Weston Parkway to N.C. 54.

Driving toward Morrisville, Danielson comes upon her bete noire: N.C. 54 and Morrisville Parkway.

“It seems like that one light does everybody in,” even with an extra lane, Danielson said. “That’s my heartache coming and going.”

Grant gets picked up from the facility on Louis Stephens Drive. From there Danielson would love to be able to drive up Louis Stephens Drive to Morrisville Carpenter Road. She can’t however, because there is a gap of just a few hundred feet in the road.

Instead she negotiates her way through the Heritage Pines neighborhood.

“It has speed bumps … so I’m not the only one who does it,” Danielson said.

At neighborhood’s entrance, she turns right on Carpenter Upchurch Road. At Morrisville Carpenter Road, she turns right again — “usually it’s backed up” — and then left on Carpenter Fire Station Road.

Once past the intersection of Carpenter Fire Station Road and N.C. 55, the trip is nearly done. Until the next day. With the chronic travel comes some realization for Danielson.

“I have a really messed up drive,” Danielson said.