Iconic Cape Fear Memorial Bridge needs replacement, but funding falls short
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — For years, there have been conversations about the need to replace the aging Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.
It’s an iconic structure, a symbol of the region.
The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is showing its age and needs to be replaced, but there aren’t enough funds to support the new construction.
The bridge is one of the biggest projects for Mike Kozlosky, Executive Director of WMPO.
He says the project was awarded $85 million in the STIP, a short-term incentive plan, which is the cost to NCDOT.
In 2024, the project was awarded a $242 million grant from the US Department of Transportation.
However, the cost estimate for replacing the bridge is much higher, causing a gap.
“There’s $337 million available for the replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. When DOT submitted the grant application, the cost of the bridge was somewhere in the high $400 million range. DOT has updated their cost estimate, and the cost of the bridge is about $1.1 billion, and so there’s a big gap or delta there,” said Kozlosky.
Due to the gap, in May 2025, the WMPO voted to support the North Carolina Department of Transportation in evaluating tolls as a funding option.
But Kozlosky says a subcommittee was created to offer options other than tolls.
“The subcommittee recommended that we look at potentially a local option sales tax. That has been successful in Mecklenburg County and just passed in November, and so that’s something that we’ll have to continue to consider,” said Kozlosky.
In the WMPO’s Cape Fear Navigating Change 2025 plan, some other potential funding options included a quarter-cent local option sales tax for transit, short term vehicle rental tax, and transportation bonds.
Kozlosky says that the next step in the replacement of the bridge is waiting for NCDOT’s finished environmental document.
The current plan, once construction begins, is to keep the current bridge operational, build a new bridge to the south, then transition traffic to the new bridge before demolition of the old one.
