Brief relief on the way as work on CFMB eastbound lanes completed ahead of Azalea Festival

CASTLE HAYNE, NC (WWAY) — Months of traffic headaches trying to get into Wilmington will soon be over before the new challenge of getting out of Wilmington starts in early April.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation gave an update on repairs to the eastbound lanes of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.

The work has been completed on all of the stringers or metal beams supporting the deck and the deck grid.

The eastbound lanes will open to traffic by March 30th.

Trevor Carroll is a division maintenance engineer for the DOT.

He explained some changes to traffic once work starts on the westbound lanes.

“One of the intersections that you mentioned, at MLK and College, we’re, we’ve run a few different models on a few different scenarios,” Carroll said. “As we get closer to making those changes, we will notify everyone. Another intersection that we’re looking at modifying is that signal at the Isabel Holmes Bridge, 421 coming in.”

Carroll said the two-lane right turn onto the Isabel Holmes Bridge will be turned back into its original one-lane turn as work on the eastbound lanes comes to an end.

Work on the westbound lanes will start April 8th at 7 pm and is expected to be completed before Memorial Day Weekend.