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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

New Hanover County Gauges Return on Investment for 421 Corridor Infrastructure Improvements

New Hanover County Manager's Office
Projected Development Through 2040 with Water & Sewer Infrastructure Improvements Along 421 Corridor

Wilmington and New Hanover County are moving forward with a Garner report recommendation to extend water and sewer to the 421 Corridor. The return on investment will depend on the county’s business recruitment efforts. 

The price tag to further this infrastructure development is nearly 12 million dollars. A full return on investment is expected in sixteen years, and the most optimistic estimate is as little as ten years.

The actions of the county affect all of these projections. County managers ran three sets of scenarios: conservative, most likely, and optimistic. The conservative estimate assumes that the only change would be the addition of water and sewer. Beth Schrader, the Strategy and Policy Manager for New Hanover County, explains the other two scenarios: 

"The most likely is where you put in water and sewer and we do a little bit more than what we’re doing now. We have a clearly cohesive policy about incentives. We adequately fund our tri-county micro-marketing alliance. We are making some active attempts to bring in industry. The optimistic scenario is we extend water and sewer, but we are strategic. We’re looking for catalytic projects. There is significant investment that is happening in trying to attract. And it’s a very coordinated and cohesive effort."

In the conservative scenario, about one thousand jobs are created. In the most likely scenario, about two thousand, and in the optimistic scenario, about three thousand.