‘Game changer.’ NC gets big federal grant to help replace Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

North Carolina will receive $242 million from the federal government to help replace the aging Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in Wilmington.

The money comes from the big infrastructure bill Congress passed in late 2021 . The grant, from the U.S. Department of Transportation, was announced Friday by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and one of North Carolina’s Republican U.S. senators, Thom Tillis, who voted for the bill.

In a statement, Cooper called the grant “a game changer for the people of Southeastern North Carolina” and credited the Biden administration.

“The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is a critical lifeline for Wilmington and our economy, used every day by thousands of residents, tourists headed to the beach and truck drivers going to and from the port,” Cooper said. “I appreciate President Biden’s leadership and commitment to rebuilding our aging infrastructure and look forward to getting this transformational project underway.”

Tillis thanked U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg “for taking my call about this project,” and highlighted the role of Congress.

“This was made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, legislation that I’m proud to have helped author and pass into law,” he said in a statement. “It’s already provided more than $10 billion to rebuild North Carolina’s infrastructure, and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement is the latest project that will benefit our great state.”

The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge carries U.S. highways 17, 76 and 421 over the river, connecting downtown Wilmington with Brunswick County. More than 70,000 vehicles cross it each day, including trucks going to and from the Port of Wilmington .

The bridge was completed in 1969 and is near the end of its useful life. In particular, the metal center span, which lifts straight up to allow taller ships to pass underneath, is difficult to maintain and was the focus of months of repairs this spring .

The N.C. Department of Transportation says it costs about $500,000 a year to maintain and operate the lift bridge and that the cost is rising as it ages.

NCDOT began studying options for replacing the bridge in 2019 and came up with four, all involving a new parallel span just downriver of the existing one. All the options would have three lanes in each direction, compared to two today, and a 15-foot multi-use path on one side.

Funding has been a big hurdle for replacing the bridge. The local transportation planning group, the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization , urged NCDOT to look at all potential sources of revenue to pay for the bridge, including possibly tolls, though both the local group and the state hope to avoid that.

The federal grant would cover roughly half of the estimated $485 million cost of replacing the bridge, according to Cooper.

NCDOT is still doing preliminary engineering and environmental studies for the new bridge and hasn’t set a date for construction to start, spokeswoman Lauren Haviland said Friday.