17 years in the making, 7 years to go: Work continues on US 17 Hampstead Bypass

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — After nearly two decades, work continues on the US 17 Hampstead Bypass in Pender County.

The project is being split into two segments. One segment will connect US Highway 17 to NC Highway 210. The other will extend Highway 210 north of Hampstead.

For the Highway 210 extension segment, utility relocations water and sewer, drainage piping and culverts, bridge construction, and fill material is being placed. Additionally, detours at Hoover Road and NC 210 have been put in place to begin construction of those overpasses.

Construction began on the bypass in 2022, but discussions surrounding the project date back to August 2006.

Brad George sits on the Pender County Board of Commissioners, representing North Hampstead, Topsail Beach, and Surf City. He says the project’s completion is a long time coming.

“Hampstead is a through-town. There’s people coming from Jacksonville going to Wilmington to work. There’s people coming from Wilmington going to Jacksonville to work. There’s people from Hampstead going both directions to work. They all meet in Hampstead on a four lane road that wasn’t built for all that traffic,” George said. “Unfortunately, the bypass was proposed 20, 25 years ago and at that time the local businesses thought it would hurt them so it was put off and now we’re 20 years too late. Hopefully with the bypass it will take some of the commuter traffic that’s coming from Jacksonville going to Wilmington out of the main streets of Hampstead.”

George says the congestion on US 17 through Hampstead is causing extended commute times, safety concerns, and business impacts.

One of those businesses is Hampstead Ace Hardware. David Keenan manages the hardware store that sits along the side of Highway 17.

“We’ll see hours of stop and go traffic almost daily and we’ll talk about it where it just…when that happens, it just absolutely kills the business here,” Keenan said. “On top of that, we’ll see people, again, almost every day that tell us when they’re heading north they don’t want to turn into our parking lot because they don’t want to try to cross traffic two times.”

According to a spokesperson with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the segment of the project that will extend Highway 210 north of Hampstead will be complete in 2026. The entire project is set to be completed in 2030.

The total cost of the project is $429 million.