Cape Fear Memorial Bridge project concludes ahead of schedule, reopens this week
The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge will reopen to traffic ahead of schedule, North Carolina Department of Transportation officials announced Tuesday morning.
After seeing partial closures over the past several months, all four lanes of the bridge will be open to vehicle traffic beginning Wednesday, May 8, around 7 p.m. Parts of the bridge have been closed for much of 2024, as work to replace the grid deck and more than 50-year-old support beams was underway.
The project was completed in phases, with the eastbound lanes of the bridge closed beginning in late January and reopening ahead of the North Carolina Azalea Festival in early April. The westbound lanes closed for repairs in April. NCDOT Division 3 Engineer Chad Kimes said crews will begin removing barricades and reopening the westbound lanes beginning May 8.
The reopening comes ahead of schedule. The contractor on the $7.1 million project, Southern Road & Bridge LLC, was set to have work completed by Memorial Day weekend. Finishing ahead of that schedule comes with an incentive bonus of $500,000, which Kimes said the contractor will receive.
Kimes, who announced his September 2024 retirement earlier this year, said this project tops the list of the most influential in his 30-plus-year career.
"I couldn't be more proud of this total team effort to do what we've done to this point today," Kimes said.
Impacted areas to soon return to pre-project conditions
The closure impacted several roads, bridges and intersections across the Wilmington area. Each of those impacted areas will soon return to preexisting conditions, Kimes said. After reopening, Kimes said, there will still be minimal work conducted, causing nightly lane closures for about 10 nights.
According to a news release from NCDOT, the barricades on 3rd Street will be removed Wednesday evening. Also on that night, traffic will be restored to its normal pattern at U.S. 421 onto U.S. 74. Restriping 3rd Street will begin Thursday evening.
Next week, on the nights of May 15-16, NCDOT officials are scheduled to restore the traffic pattern at North College Road onto Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway to its pre-project pattern.
Local leaders react
Transportation and government leaders from the region attended Tuesday's news conference celebrating the announcement and thanking NCDOT officials, local law enforcement and others for their work on this project.
"Today is a great day for Brunswick and New Hanover counties," said New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield. "I call this a short-term pain for a long-term gain."
The project looked to extend the life of the vertical lift bridge, which was installed in 1969. Kimes said maintenance issues will persist. He anticipates the newly installed riding deck to last another 10 years.
Wilmington City Council member Luke Waddell described the occasion as "monumental."
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"It's a monumental day, a monumental project, a monumental effort," Waddell said.
Brunswick County Commissioner Frank Williams thanked the members of the public for their patience and resiliency through the past few months, as did Kimes, Barfield and Waddell.
"This was an issue that affected everybody who lives in this community," Williams said. "This was not one of those things we do that doesn't affect the people we represent. This was a real issue and everybody was very afraid of how it was going to affect the community. And it wasn't as bad as it could have been, and that's because of all the people here today. But as everyone else has already said, it's also because the people of this community are resilient and they adapted and they made things work."
Jamey Cross covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on Twitter/X @jameybcross.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Cape Fear Memorial Bridge to reopen Wednesday night
