City cuts ribbon on Front Street

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Traffic’s been flowing on Front Street since Friday, but today the City of Wilmington and Cape Fear Public Utility Authority held an official ribbon cutting.

The nearly $2 million project took a little more than seven months to complete. That’s three weeks ahead of schedule. Workers replaced water and sewer lines that were more than 100 years old. Even though closing Front Street was an inconvenience to businesses, most made it through alright.

“We’re on budget, which is great,” Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said. “I know that this was a tremendous disruption to the property owners down here and the merchants down here, but we said we’d get it done as quickly as we could. We got their input. We listened to their concerns. Some rocky starts here and there, but for the most part we ended up with a great product here.”

Above ground, larger sidewalks, new landscaping and improved lighting are some of the highlights of the Front Street Project.