Wilmington breaks ground on $2.4M River Road Roundabout

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The City of Wilmington, Riverlights, and Proximity Watermark officially broke ground on a new roundabout Monday morning. 

The single-lane roundabout will be built at River Road and Independence Boulevard. In 2022, a traffic analysis was conducted to determine how to handle the increasing volume of traffic. The data showed that the roundabout would perform better for both northbound and southbound traffic.

The $2.42 million project is designed to improve traffic flow and safety and will include pedestrian crossings, a sidewalk, new curbing and a gutter along Independence Boulevard from the roundabout to River Front Place. 

Wilmington City Mayor Bill Saffo says there was a growing need for improvement. 

“The amount of people that have moved to this part of the community within a very short period of time, within a decade, has made this intersection improvement necessary at this time. So, we are all working together to see what we can do working together to make these improvements quicker,” Saffo said. 

During construction, southbound traffic on River Road detours to Carolina Beach Road through Raleigh Street and Sunnyvale Drive. Northbound traffic on River Road will be able to make a right on Independence Boulevard toward Carolina Beach Road. Southbound traffic will be able to make a left to proceed south on River Road toward Riverlights. 

‘Highland Paving’ will take on the project and it’s expected to be completed in about 6-8 months or early 2026.