Panda Express coming to busy Wesel Boulevard area; Chick-fil-A makes more improvements

A Panda Express is planned at a busy shopping center intersection off Wesel Boulevard, one where Chick-fil-A has again made improvements to address backed up lines at its drive-thru.

The Panda Express is planned for part of a parking lot across a Valley Park Commons entryway from the Chick-fil-A on Wesel Boulevard.

The Panda Express is expected to open by summer 2025, according to a publicity representative for Panda Restaurant Group.

The Chick-fil-A off Wesel has been closed since April 1 to make improvements, according to a sign outside the restaurant.

Those improvements include having two drive-thru lanes wrap around the building to include receiving orders and not just placing orders, said Jim Bender, city engineer for the City of Hagerstown.

The hope is that will cut down on the "stacking that pushes traffic back" into the shopping center's "ring road," Bender said.

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The 'Chick-fil-A effect'

Traffic, from customers on the restaurant property and trying to get to the restaurant, is known to cause a backup on the entrance road to Valley Park Commons that will be between Chick-fil-A and the future Panda Express.

Bender said the traffic issue is a phenomenon nationwide and is known among traffic engineers as "the Chick-fil-A effect."

"After seeing how popular it is, we have become much more aware of potential issues, especially with drive-thru fast food restaurants," Bender said. When plans come in for such a business now, the drive-thru traffic path and the potential issues it could cause is one of the first things city officials review, he said.

A representative for the company that owns and operates the Chick-fil-A franchise on Wesel Boulevard could not be reached for comment.

Work outside the Wesel Boulevard location has been progressing steadily and appears near completion.

Improvements inside the restaurant include a larger dining room and new floors, according to the Facebook page for the Chick-fil-A on Wesel Boulevard. An April 12 post on the page states the restaurant is expected to reopen in mid-May.

The restaurant underwent an earlier renovation in 2016.

Bender said officials will have to wait and see if Panda Express traffic compounds the traffic problem.

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There's not as much traffic coming from the Panda Express side of the intersection with the shopping center entrance and the center's internal ring road, he said.

There might be times when traffic is backed up waiting to exit the Panda Express, he said.

The Panda Express will have two drive-thru lanes for ordering that will merge into one lane for food pickup, the publicity representative confirmed.

The approved site plan for the Panda Express shows two entrance and exit driveways on the Sam's Club side of the Panda Express lot and one on the southwest side — the opposite side from the shopping center entrance.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Panda Express planned near busy Chick-fil-A in Hagerstown