A single crossing over the Cape Fear River for cars and trains? It's possible

The trajectory of two major transportation projects with the potential to affect thousands of Wilmington drivers could be determined by a new engineering study.

The Wilmington City Council unanimously approved a $200,000 contract last week with an engineering firm to look at the compatibility of combining the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement and the city’s rail realignment project into a single crossing of the Cape Fear River. The study will help guide the future of each transportation project as local leaders work toward securing project funding and detailed project designs.

Although the projects have been a topic of conversation among Wilmington leaders and residents for years, both remain “very much in the early stages of development,” Aubrey Parsley, Wilmington’s director of rail realignment, told city council members last week.

Neither project has secured full construction funding, but rail realignment has the money needed to engineer approximately 30% of the design.

For years, Wilmington leaders have known the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge has needed replacing. The project, expected to cost around $400 million, isn't funded in the State Transportation Improvement Program, which prioritizes and funds infrastructure projects statewide.

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The more-than-50-year-old Cape Fear Memorial Bridge captured the public's attention and drew spirited debate last year when a private company pitched adding a toll to the well-traveled bridge to fund its replacement. The option was voted down by local leaders but remains on the table as the North Carolina Department of Transportation studies options.

Two major Cape Fear area transportation projects -- replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and Wilmington's rail realignment -- are set to be studied by a private engineering firm through a $200,000 contract with the city of Wilmington. The firm will review the pros and cons of combining the projects or moving forward separately.
Two major Cape Fear area transportation projects -- replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and Wilmington's rail realignment -- are set to be studied by a private engineering firm through a $200,000 contract with the city of Wilmington. The firm will review the pros and cons of combining the projects or moving forward separately.

The N.C. Department of Transportation has contracted with another third-party firm to study potential toll rates and traffic distribution and to create a planning document for the bridge's replacement. The planning document will take about three years to put together and will help officials pursue future federal grants that could expedite its replacement.

Combining a rail and road link

The city-sponsored rail realignment aims to replace and improve the existing rail route linking the Port of Wilmington with a key railyard in Navassa by creating a shorter route that avoids busy Wilmington streets and other densely populated areas of the city. Work on the project has been ongoing since at least 2017.

Now, city leaders want to study whether these two projects could be combined as a single river crossing with space for cars, the railway and pedestrians.

The idea isn’t exactly new, according to Parsley. Instead, a shared bridge was proposed as one of four options proposed as part of an “express design summary” that was completed in 2020.

Some revisions of the rail realignment have taken place since then, Parsley said, and Wilmington officials want to evaluate the pros and cons of combining the projects or keeping them separate before deciding upon a path forward.

Two major Cape Fear area transportation projects -- replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and Wilmington's rail realignment -- are set to be studied by a private engineering firm through a $200,000 contract with the city of Wilmington. The firm will review the pros and cons of combining the projects or moving forward separately.
Two major Cape Fear area transportation projects -- replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and Wilmington's rail realignment -- are set to be studied by a private engineering firm through a $200,000 contract with the city of Wilmington. The firm will review the pros and cons of combining the projects or moving forward separately.

“What are the quantifiable trade-offs to a shared use bridge option versus having the project proceed independently with two separate bridges?” Parsley said. “We really want to answer and put some parameters around what those trade-offs look like.”

That’s where engineering firm Hardesty and Hanover come in. The firm, headquartered in New York City, has worked on bridges across the U.S., including at least three that like the Cape Fear Memorial -- combined car and train traffic along with a lift bridge element.

“There are very, very few shared use bridges out there,” Parsley said, “especially at this scale and especially which combine highway and rail.”

A car passes by the railroad tracks along Martin St. in Wilmington, N.C., Monday, September 28, 2020. The city of Wilmington is undertaking a study that will identify feasible alternatives that could be considered for the rail realignment project. The project aims to replace and improve the existing freight rail route between Navassa Yard and the Port of Wilmington.

The study, which will occur over the next six to eight months, will establish what Parsley called “the most practical” shared-use concept, generate a conceptual design of the project along with estimating its costs.

Although some council members expressed concern about just how much the study would be used to guide the project's path forward, Parsley told the council the information would play a key role in informing the decisions of transportation officials.

Reporter Emma Dill can be reached at edill@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington weighs merging bridge replacement with rail realignment