Brunswick County residents raise concerns over tolls, height of Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — The North Carolina Department of Transportation is gathering public input on plans to replace the aging Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, which connects New Hanover and Brunswick counties.

Public hearings were held Monday in Wilmington and Tuesday in Leland, giving residents on both sides of the Cape Fear River an opportunity to weigh in on the proposed replacement.

Many of the concerns raised Tuesday echoed those heard the night before in Wilmington, including opposition to a potential toll, questions about the proposed bridge’s height, and whether NCDOT is considering all possible alternatives.

The project currently has two proposed replacement options.

Option A would be a movable bridge with 65 feet of clearance when closed and up to 135 feet when raised. Option B would be a fixed bridge with 135 feet of clearance.

The possibility of tolling the new bridge drew opposition from several Brunswick County residents.

“My opposition to any effort to fund this bridge through tolls,” former Leland Town Councilmember Bill McHugh said. “Tolling this crossing would push traffic onto local downtown streets, burden residents and commuters who already pay for this infrastructure through their taxes.”

Another Brunswick County resident said a toll could create a significant financial burden for families.

“I am a stay-at-home mom, with my income, cannot drive my child to school, her activities, back. I’m going to have to cut the things that I am doing for this to be successful,” she said.

Leland resident Sharon Quay said a toll could also affect how frequently she crosses the river for shopping, dining and entertainment.

“Definitely will cut back on going to the theater, definitely will cut back on shopping, definitely cut back on going to restaurants,” Quay said. “We’ll cut back on everything.”

Quay said she would instead look for activities and businesses closer to home to avoid paying a toll.

Some residents also questioned whether a 135-foot bridge is necessary.

“I think 135-foot bridge is going to make a very negative impact on this area,” one speaker said.

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo questioned whether the amount of clearance proposed is justified by current river traffic.

“Do we really need 135 based on the fact that we’ve had 69 openings of that bridge in one year, 67 of them were for sailboats and recreational vessels?” Saffo said.

Saffo also questioned the amount of commercial development on the northern end of the river and noted that the area has not been dredged since the 1990s.

Winnabow resident Nicholas Newell questioned the data being used to determine the bridge’s height.

“Just really frustrates me because the only reason why we’re discussing a bridge that’s 135 feet or a bridge that has the ability to lift to 135 feet is because of a study from 1996,” Newell said. “We would never build a road today with traffic counts from 1996. I don’t know why we would build a bridge from data from 1996.”

With both public hearings complete, NCDOT Division 3 Engineer Trevor Carroll said the department will now compile the comments and prepare responses.

“It’s going to take about a month or so to compile the comments and provide a response, which we’ll make available to the public,” Carroll said. “After that, then we’re going to work into finding what alternative is chosen by the merger team.”

NCDOT is accepting written comments on the project through Oct. 15. Carroll said the department expects an alternative to be selected by the end of the year.

The replacement project is currently estimated to cost more than $1 billion.