Wilmington residents react to the CFMB eastbound lane closures

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It’s all that Cape Fear Residents are talking about. 

“Going to Leland now is still busy with the bridge, so closing down the bridge is going to keep all that traffic behind,” Christian Hanes said. 

“I mean it’s not massively, like, inconveniencing me, but that’s a long haul for that bridge to be out for sure,” Tessa Torkelson said. 

“Now it’s sort of like well I can’t go over the bridge, I to have to find another way to get over there,” Doug Dupuis said. “I mean it’ll be, you know, not that much out of my way. I grew up in Atlanta. I hate the Atlanta traffic, so this is not going to be anything.” 

Work on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge’s eastbound lanes began at 7 p.m. on Monday. 

According to the NCDOT, on average 55,000 vehicles cross the bridge every single day—and during peak morning hours, 60% of that traffic is on the two eastbound lanes heading into Wilmington. With all that traffic being re-routed, one resident says she already avoids the roads in downtown Wilmington and will likely avoid them even more now. 

“I do like walking downtown,” Kaiya Bullard said. “I already don’t like driving downtown, so I’m probably going to avoid that even more, cause I don’t know if I need to be out there doing that.” 

Bullard is a resident of downtown Wilmington and worries that the increased traffic could lead to a rise in accidents. 

“I just more-so hope people will be aware and safe with the increase in traffic. Already people can be a little bit unsafe, but just make sure you’re paying attention to the road.” 

The bridge’s eastbound lanes will remain closed until March 31st, when all four lanes reopen for the North Carolina Azelea Festival.