The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement project received a $242 million grant on Friday, July 12, from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Biden Administration announced. That funding represents about half of the $485 million cost of the project.
The funding comes from the 2021 infrastructure law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden.
“This major grant from the Biden Administration is a game changer for the people of southeastern North Carolina,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a release. “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.”
Local officials opposed a plan earlier this year to create a toll road at the bridge to pay for replacement costs.
Built in 1969, the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is a 3,000-foot-long steel vertical-lift bridge that carries U.S. 17/U.S. 76 /U.S. 421 over the Cape Fear River and connects Brunswick and New Hanover counties. The new structure is proposed to be a high-rise, fixed-span bridge.
The bridge is currently safe and in fair condition in the wake of a major rehabilitation project completed in spring of 2024. However, its design is not up to modern standards. It costs about $500,000 per year to maintain and operate the moveable span structure, which carries more than 70,000 cars and trucks across the river each day and is projected to carry nearly 100,000 vehicles by 2050.
“This grant signifies our federal partners understand the challenges we face with continual and increasing maintenance costs of this aging structure that connects communities and carries trucks that transport freight to and from the Port of Wilmington and the need to respond to the tremendous growth this region is experiencing,” said North Carolina Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins in a statement.