Division Three Engineer Trevor Carroll hosted the press conference at the NCDOT facility in Castle Hayne, to announce a public comment period on an updated option for replacing the aging, functionally obsolete Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.
While structurally sound, the CFMB has become increasingly expensive to maintain and is struggling to keep up with ever-increasing traffic volumes.
Right now, NCDOT has two options for replacing the bridge.
Alternative A is shorter, with a movable lift section, and connects to South 3rd Street in downtown Wilmington much the same way as the current bridge. While it still poses problems, many stakeholders, including historical and environmental preservationists and the City of Wilmington, have identified it as the lesser of two evils.
The original Alternative B is longer, with a fixed span, and off-ramps that dropped vehicles onto South 5th Avenue, which cannot handle that kind of traffic flow according to city officials. During the public comment period that followed the environmental assessment report on the two alternatives, the latter received a lot of criticism from the public, as well as the City of Wilmington.
For that reason, Division 3 Engineer Trevor Carroll said they’ve redesigned Alternative B with a large looping off-ramp so that it lands on 3rd Street, impacting significantly fewer parcels — reducing the number from 63 to 17 — to and reducing traffic impact, as well as overall cost.
Carrol said this would help ameliorate many of the concerns they heard.
“We received over 1800 comments for this project [...] so this modification should really show everyone how serious we are about those public comments, and that they matter,” he said. “What we have done is minimized a lot of those concerns from that public comment period [...] We have drastically reduced the human impact on the New Hanover County side. It's proof that we didn't put our pencils down. We listened to the comments, and that's why we're opening this new comment period for these two alternatives, so we can continue to listen.”
Carroll said that NCDOT isn’t currently considering some different bridge options that Wilmington proposed last month. Based on the work of consultants hired by the city, the designs are lower-impact and less expensive than NCDOT’s current option.
“Those options that the city of Wilmington presented are, I would say, welcomed alternatives,” Carroll said. “[But] our constraints for this project, delivering this project on schedule, we do not have the opportunity to explore those options through this current time frame.”
Some of the city’s alternatives would require a reevaluation of the navigation channel by the Army Corps of Engineers and Congressional approval to change requirements for how wide and tall the bridge’s clearance needs to be. The City of Wilmington, New Hanover County, and Leland have all requested that officials pursue that kind of reassessment. Last month, New Hanover County shared that it had followed up with a lobbyist and made some headway; the City of Wilmington had not heard back.
Carroll said NCDOT has had preliminary conversations with federal stakeholders, but no details have been ironed out. For now, NCDOT is focused on two options, Alternative A and the new Alternative B.
However, Carroll said, “If other options open, then we will certainly evaluate those. We would have some collaboration and see how we can deliver this project with new information.”
The current cost estimate remains roughly $1.1 billion, with $85 million from the state and a $242 million federal grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. NCDOT still plans to cover the $773 million with tolls — to the frustration of local county and municipal officials and the general public.
The decision to toll a new bridge needs approval from the General Assembly, which is expected in February — though it’s not clear if dramatic changes to the makeup of the state House, where Democrats now have a majority, will impact the process. Authorizing a new bridge as a toll project is a decision from the WMPO, the transportation authority for the greater Wilmington. WMPO has on several occasions approved exploring all options, including tolls — although those decisions have been made begrudgingly, with multiple WMPO members saying they oppose tolls if any other option is available. The WMPO would have to rescind its approval by February to stop the process, but no additional vote is needed for it to proceed, pending state approval.
A public comment period on the options is open through December 4. Carroll said the added step would not delay the overall process, though a final alternative would not be selected in early 2027.
You can find information about the updated Alternative B here. You can provide public comments here, by email to CapeFearMemorialBridge@publicinput.com, or by calling (984) 205-6615 and entering code: 10626.
