Eastbound lane closures on Cape Fear Memorial Bridge proves itself a traffic nightmare
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)– As predicted, it’s safe to say that the first full day of the eastbound lanes being closed on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge has been a traffic nightmare. Especially during the morning rush hour.
“Mainly just a lot of congestion here.”
“The traffic has been bumper to bumper.”
That’s one way to describe how driving into Wilmington from Brunswick County has been following the first day of lane closures on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.
It wasn’t just the highway that was bumper to bumper.
Village Road in Leland was also at a standstill.
“I watched them pile up all morning. It’s been…it’ll pile up, then it’ll clear out. Pile back up, then they’re blocking this intersection here, beeping the horn, people yelling at each other, it’s crazy,” said Katelyn Barberia, the General Manager of Hardee’s in Leland on Village Road. “They’re saying they’re going to be late, they’re saying they’re in a hurry, they’re not happy with the situation, you know. It’s very rough already today.”
One Leland resident said their trip into Wilmington that typically takes 15 minutes using the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, took three hours using the detour on I-140 to 421. And this congestion on I-140 is what surprised the NCDOT the most.
“I think the biggest surprise would be the 140 and Castle Hayne Road interchange.” said Trevor Carroll, NCDOT Division Maintenance Engineer. “We’ve already begun to work on some signal timing modifications for that particular interchange. That was more congestion than we actually expected today.”
An NCDOT engineer went up in a highway patrol helicopter Tuesday morning to survey the traffic to find ways to improve alternate routes.
“We are evaluating every interchange, every intersection, every movement to make sure that we can do some small modifications to improve the flow,” said Carroll.
But this will not be resolved overnight.
“It will take us a few days of monitoring to make any large major changes. We don’t want to have a knee jerk reaction on day one,” said Carroll. “We want to take some small steps to improve the commute in for everyone.”
In the meantime, drivers are making plans for their travels Wednesday, followings Tuesday’s trial and error.
“I think we might try to leave a little bit earlier tomorrow just to see how things go. But we know it’s a lot, and it’s going to be a long process I think,” lifelong Leland resident, Lisa Joyner.
When driving to Wilmington Tuesday afternoon around 2 pm, traffic was pretty steady, but it only took about 10 minutes to get from Village Road to Third Street.
So, it seems like the big issues come during rush hour.
