City and county leaders respond to the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge nearing completion

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — There’s good news for drivers who use the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. The State Department of Transportation said the bridge restoration project is ahead of schedule. 

The bridge will reopen Wednesday night, making the timeline about two weeks ahead of schedule. 

“If your happy and you know it, clap your hands,” New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield said. 

It was a moment of levity after the NCDOT announced the westbound lanes of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge will begin to reopen Wednesday at 7 p.m.. It will take several hours for crews to change signs and pavement markings and remove barrels barricading the road.  

NCDOT Engineer Chad Kimes said it’s a day worth celebrating because it took patience from all involved.   

“What had to come together in the past year to get to this point was huge. We treated this like a storm response, ya know, all hands-on deck. Just the sheer amount of teamwork was incredible. Our partnership, we’ve preached this for years, but it could not have happened if it wasn’t for all those partnerships that we have,” Kimes said. 

The NCDOT also had the largest incident management response in the state’s history working on this project.  

City and county leaders attended Tuesday’s announcement as well. Wilmington City Councilman Luke Waddell said he is most proud of the community’s patience.  

“I believe that our resilience in the face of challenge is, it’s something that’s special and it’s a unique characteristic to the people in our community. So, I want them to hear all of us when we say, ‘thank you, thank you for your patience but thank you for just having resilience,’” Waddell said. 

New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield said this project sets up the future expectations of the bridge.  

“We needed to make sure that this bridge would be safe for years and years to come. The work that’s been done will guarantee that for a long time to come,” Barfield said. 

While all lanes of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge will be open to traffic, crews will still need to remove the platform. For several days, there will be nightly lanes closures from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. for that work to be done.