We welcome letters to the editor’s desk on any topic. Our ideal length is around 400 words or less, but if they need to be a little longer, that’s fine. We reserve the right to edit or add context when necessary. We ask that submissions come with your name and where you live (no street address necessary, just your neighborhood, town, city, etc.). Criticisms are welcome, but we ask you to try to keep things civil.
Send your letter to BSchachtman@whqr.org — or by mail, if you're old school, to WHQR Public Media 254 N. Front Street, Suite 300, Wilmington, NC 28401.
This edition’s letter addresses the proposed replacement for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge; it comes from Concerned Members of the Residents of Old Wilmington and Citizens of the Greater Wilmington Area.
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“Do no harm” is a phrase commonly associated with the medical profession’s oath, but it is increasingly applied to corporations, government organizations, and their regulators. Do no harm should guide NCDOT and the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization with the plans to replace the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. Unfortunately, the current plans fall short of this goal and will harm the local economy, traffic flow, the environment, and evacuation routes.
While the current Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is functionally sound and could last for years, the new bridge would have an additional lane in both directions to prepare for the area’s expanding population. The new bridge will maintain a 135ft height to enable large vessels to access the river north of the bridge. NCDOT is exploring two options – A) a lift bridge like the current bridge that can rise from 65ft to 135ft as needed and B) a fixed bridge that is 135ft high. The lift bridge maintains the existing footprint and does not change the entry points to the bridge. The 135ft fixed bridge expands the footprint of the bridge and moves the primary entry and exit from S 3rd St to S 5th Ave.
The economic impact of either bridge option is significant as residents will pay for the majority of the new bridge via tolls. Residents will pay roughly $990M or 76% of the $1.3B cost with the remainder coming from Federal grants and state funds. As WHQR reported in its interview with a UNCW economist, the toll will have an impact on residents on both sides of the river, but particularly on the work force who commute daily over the bridge. For commuters, this will be nearly $1,500 per year in tolls. It will also impact those who travel across the bridge for medical appointments, stores, restaurants, entertainment, and the beaches.
Traffic flow will be impacted as some drivers seeking to avoid the toll use the Isabel Holmes bridge. This will present a significant increase in traffic delays trying to get through downtown. Some may recall the traffic challenges when they recently repaired the bridge. The fixed bridge adds even greater traffic flow issues as it changes one of the primary entries and exits to the bridge from S 3rd St, a four-lane road, to S. 5th Ave., a two-lane road.
Of the two options, the lift bridge (option A) is preferred because it has the least impact on the environment, evacuation routes and may take less time to construct with less disruption.
Because the 135ft fixed bridge changes the footprint of the existing bridge, it is estimated that nearly 11 acres of wetlands will be damaged. Further environmental studies are currently underway and may adjust that estimate.
Evacuation may be slower with the 135ft fixunliked bridge because the primary bridge entry would move from S 3rd St which is a four-lane state highway to S 5th Ave. which is two-lane city road. Traffic studies have yet to be completed, but this is a potential cause for delays during evacuation periods.
Because the fixed bridge changes the footprint and changes the bridge entry, construction is estimated to continue for five or more years, causing disruption far longer than the construction of the lift bridge.
We encourage residents of all counties of greater Wilmington to do two things:
1. Let your representative on the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization know that you don’t want to pay for a toll. You can do so by clicking the link to sign the petition.
2. Attend the NCDOT public hearing session in late August and support the lift bridge option that causes less harm to the environment, traffic, and evacuation. Check the NCDOT site on date, time, and location for the meeting.
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The replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge has been a heated topic for some time now, but unlike a lot of divisive issues, most people I talk to largely agree on a few key points: 1) no one wants a toll, 2) we all want to minimize the disruptive or destructive impact on the environment and existing neighborhoods, and 3) we all understand that the CFMB is a crucial part of the greater Wilmington area economy – we can’t just let it rust into oblivion, nor can we keep up with the ever-increasing traffic volume with the current bridge's capacity.
Much of the design and the cost of the bridge, as we reported last summer, has been driven by requirements from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard, which effectively killed less expensive proposals for replacements with lower fixed heights. Locals, even powerful state leaders, can rattle their sabers, but the federal agencies are 900-pound gorillas. They get what they want in projects like this, at least historically, according to multiple sources I’ve spoken with at the City of Wilmington, North Carolina Department of Transportation, and even former Corps of Engineers employees. (And no, those federal agencies don’t kick in any extra funding when their recommendations run up the cost.)
That, as this week’s letter indicates, leaves two options, one of which many agree is ‘less bad,’ at least in terms of its traffic and eminent domain impacts.
The proposed toll option for funding the new bridge – a Sword of Damocles that’s hung over the region since at least 2021 – feels inevitable now, despite years of increasingly forced optimism and being told to ‘trust the process’ last year.
The figure that Residents of Old Wilmington and others have sometimes used – “nearly $1,500” – represents a $2 toll, each way, for a double-axle vehicle using the bridge every day of the year. That’s a guess, and probably a high estimate (most people won’t use the bridge every day), but as the letter notes, UNCW economist Mouhcine Guettabi laid out some pretty significant economic impacts when he spoke to my colleague Kelly Kenoyer earlier this year.
It remains to be seen if there will be any kind of dynamic pricing – based on traffic volume, vehicle size, time of day – but, safe to say, a toll will be unpopular. It will also disproportionately impact lower-income residents, especially those who have been priced out of living in Wilmington but still work in the city (that includes cops, nurses, teachers, and many in the hospitality industry).
A final note: NCDOT’s designation of the current Cape Fear Memorial Bridge as ‘functionally obsolete’ – which, admittedly, sounds alarming – is not a measure of its structural integrity and safety, but its ability to handle the traffic generated by the region’s ballooning population. NCDOT told me last year that the bridge could be operated for another 20 or 30 years.
But, while NCDOT doesn’t foresee any kind of Final Destination nightmare scenarios, there are two caveats to their confidence in the bridge. The first is that repair costs on the bridge, especially its mechanical lift equipment, will only get more expensive every year. The second is that inflation and construction costs are outpacing government funding at a staggering rate. That gap doesn’t appear to be shrinking.
For those reasons, as well as a ticking clock on the federal grant, NCDOT is eager to move forward and plans to pick a preferred alternative in late summer or fall this year.
