WMPO Board Votes to Keep Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Replacement Moving Forward
At its May 28 regular meeting, the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO) Board voted 8-4 to reaffirm its position that the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) should explore all possible options to fund a replacement for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. In January 2024, the WMPO allowed NCDOT to include the possible use of tolls when scoring the bridge for its biennial prioritization process. When allowing for the possibility of a toll, the bridge scored among the top-10 transportation projects in the state and quickly amassed $327 million in state and federal funds. Removing the toll option dropped it into the 200s in the state’s priority rankings, which could render the project without a path forward.
The board’s May 28 vote was necessary to solidify existing funding commitments and allow NCDOT to continue advancing the project while securing additional funding. BASE’s new President and CEO, Jerod Patterson, along with Vice Chair John Lennon, and Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce CEO Natalie English addressed the WMPO Board to encourage moving the project forward. At 56 years of age, the bridge is deemed “functionally obsolete” and recently required an extensive repair that closed it to traffic for several months. If the replacement project remains on track, construction would still not begin until 2029. Including a toll option does not mean the bridge will require a toll once completed. That would ultimately depend on the amount of funding secured for the project. It is however the only way to retain existing funding commitments and move the project forward.
Also in May, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued its formal recommendation that a replacement bridge have a vertical clearance of at least 135 feet, and that a lower bridge would be “injurious” to the navigational needs at that portion of the Cape Fear River. Additionally, NCDOT has updated its cost estimate for the bridge replacement at $1.1 billion.