NCDOT looks to tolls to pay for Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — As questions continue to swirl surrounding the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Replacement Project, the North Carolina Department of Transportation now says the only feasible option to fund a new bridge is by using tolls. 

In January, Wilmington City Council unanimously adopted a resolution opposing tolls on the bridge. Leland town council is also unanimously opposed to the idea of a toll bridge. 

Despite that, the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization—the group that would ultimately decide if there’s a toll or not—asked the NCDOT to explore all possible funding options, including potential tolls. 

In the NCDOT’s 2026-2035 State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), the state agency now lists tolls as the only feasible option to pay for the $1.1 billion project. 

This comes as a $242 million federal grant awarded by the Biden Administration remains on hold as the Trump Administration enacts sweeping funding cuts. 

“I don’t think anybody knows what’s going on,” Wilmington City Councilwoman Salette Andrews said. 

Andrews notes there’s still more questions than answers when it comes to funding, but she says—a toll is the wrong option. 

“65,000 cars a day go over that bridge, and to replace it, to suddenly say that all those people need to start paying a toll is pretty outrageous,” Andrews said. 

Andrews adds if a toll were put into place, it would likely cause more people to use the Isabel Holmes bridge instead, defeating the purpose of a new crossing. 

On the other side of the river, Leland Town Councilwoman Veronica Carter says adding a toll could set a dangerous precedent for state transportation projects. 

“This would be the first existing structure that would get a toll to replace it. All other existing structures in the state of North Carolina have just been replaced,” she explained. 

Andrews equates a potential toll to little more than tax. 

“To be putting that tax back on the same working people who have been funding our state and national governments, I think is wrong,” she said. 

The NCDOT has previously said the bridge is already beyond its intended capacity, and will need to be replaced in the coming decades. 

Carter calling on state and federal officials to do more. 

“We want to join with our friends in Wilmington and make sure our representatives both in Congress as well as in Raleigh, understand that we need this bridge, we need that lifeline, and we need it to be toll free,” Carter said. 

WWAY reached out to the WMPO for comment, a spokesperson confirmed the organization asked the NCDOT to explore all possible funding options; noting that, “At this time, no decisions have been made, and discussions are ongoing.”

The WMPO is set to vote on the toll option at their meeting next Wednesday.