Late last week, Governor Roy Cooper and others announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation had identified a replacement for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge as the recipient of a major grant, with funding coming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and covers roughly half of the current estimated $485 million cost. The USDOT directed funding to the project at the direction of the Biden Administration.
On Wednesday, over a dozen local representatives and officials gathered, along with Cooper, to celebrate.
Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo opened the spirited press conference, calling the $242 million grant, “a major, and I mean major federal investment from the bipartisan infrastructure law toward a new bridge across the Cape Fear River.”
Federal Highway Administration Shailen Bhatt, said the bipartisan infrastructure act came after years of neglect.
“Many people immigrated to this country in the 20th century and in the 19th century because they thought the streets were paved with gold in America. But after decades — and this is Democratic and Republican responsibility — after decades of disinvestment, people began to question, are the streets even paved in America? Are the bridges still standing," Bhatt told the crowd.
With the federal grant covering roughly half the estimated cost of a new bridge, NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins said that, combined with money the state’s already identified in its STIP — the rolling ten-year State Transportation Improvement Program — they’re close to fully funding the project without a toll.
“We want to fund this. We want to complete the funding this project, this 242 million, plus the roughly 85 million that's that'll be in our next STIP, goes a long way toward doing that," Hopkins said.
Officials, in general, told WHQR things are close, but not quite, when it comes to a toll-free bridge. Officials at the conference couldn’t categorically rule it out — most saying they felt good, but still had a lot of work to do.
