WILMINGTON — The Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s board of directors were given the chance to stop a tolled Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in its tracks this week and it chose not to, even after protest from one member.
READ MORE: USACE: Memorial Bridge should be 135 ft. or more, anything less would injure harbor dredging project
ALSO: Cape Fear Memorial Bridge: NCDOT engineer says tolling only current option to fund $800M gap
The board voted 8-4 on a resolution to confirm it wants to continue moving forward with a tolled bridge in the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s 2026-2035 transportation plan.
Those who voted in favor include: Wrightsville Beach Mayor Pro Tem Hank Miller, Belville Mayor Mike Allen, Carolina Beach Mayor Lynn Barbee, New Hanover County Commissioner Dane Scalise, Kure Beach Mayor John Ellen, Pender County Commissioner Brad George, Brunswick County Commissioner Mike Forte (subbing in for Frank Williams), and NCDOT representative Landon Zimmer.
Dissenters include: Leland’s Mayor Brenda Bozeman, Wilmington City Councilmembers Kevin Spears and Luke Waddell, and Navassa Mayor Eulis Willis.
The resolution reaffirms the board’s support of three actions:
- Consideration and pursuit of all possible funding options for the replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge
- Inclusion of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement as a toll facility in the 2026-2035 State/MPO Transportation Improvement Programs
- Amending Cape Fear Moving Forward 2045 to include the replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge as a toll facility
“This resolution is really procedural in nature and confirms the previous actions and direction provided by the WMPO board,” WMPO Executive Director Mike Kozlosky said Wednesday.
He reminded Wednesday’s participants that the WMPO board can withdraw its approval of the toll project at any time until construction contracts are advertised. However, the untolled version of the project went unfunded again this year after several years of failing to score high enough to move forward.
The board can also continue to pursue grant funding or alternative funding mechanisms until then to try to offset the cost, currently $1.1 billion for a 135-foot structure. Currently the only committed funding is $85 million coming from NCDOT.
Bozeman was the only one to speak during discussion of the resolution Wednesday.
“I was born and raised in Wilmington, went to Leland as a young teenager, so nobody’s more aware of the new bridge than I am,” Bozeman said.
She then presented concerns from herself and fellow Leland councilmembers, including:
- The precedent set by implementing a toll on an existing road, never before done in the state (NCDOT characterizes the CFMB as a new structure, though it’s replacing the current bridge)
- The portion of the bridge cost (now at $1.1 billion) that would be paid by tolls and the length of time those tolls would be implemented remains unknown, along with how a toll would divert to surrounding infrastructure
- Toll collection could be contracted out to a private company who may want to keep a toll in place for perpetuity
- NCDOT’s STIP process doesn’t fairly evaluate bridges
“I’ve been instructed by my council to vote no in favor of any toll, anything that involves a toll,” Bozeman concluded.
Bozeman, Willis and Waddell voted against the original resolution supporting submission of a tolled option in January 2024. Since then, Spears replaced Mayor Bill Saffo on the board; Saffo also voted against the resolution.
However, one New Hanover County vote switched to favoring the resolution this time around. Former Commissioner Jonathan Barfield voted against the resolution last year. After he was voted out of office in the last election, Barfield’s seat on the WMPO board was filled by Commissioner Scalise.
New Hanover County Commissioner Chair Bill Rivenbark voted for the resolution last year, but was absent from Wednesday’s meeting.
Three people spoke at Wednesday’s meeting, all in favor of the resolution.
Jerod Patterson, president and CEO of the Business Alliance for a Sound Economy and former communications director for the City of Wilmington, said current transportation funding is perilous, citing Hurricane Helene’s road devastation and shifting fiscal policy at the federal level.
“This underscores the importance of staying the course and trusting the process,” Patterson said.
Patterson was backed up by BASE’s vice chair, John Lennon, also a member of the Wilmington Planning Commission.
“The vote you’re being asked to cast today is not a vote to make tolling a foregone conclusion,” Lennon said. “It’s a vote to reaffirm NCDOT’s ability to continue to push the project forward, a vote to reaffirm this community’s recognition of the need for a bridge replacement, and a vote to reaffirm our region’s collective commitment to work side by side with state and federal officials in seeking additional funding mechanisms. There is still ample time to continue to work together on procuring these funds.”
Though that sentiment was dampened by NCDOT division 3 engineer Trevor Caroll at Leland Town Council’s meeting earlier this month. He reported NCDOT has run out of grant options after nabbing a federal grant worth $242 million last year. However, the status of this grant remains pending as the Trump administration reviews federal spending to ensure compliance with its policy goals.
The third speaker on Wednesday, Wilmington Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Natalie English, attempted to provide an update on that grant.
English said she met with Jay Payne, chief counsel for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, and his staff in Washington D.C. earlier this month.
“I asked them the question: ‘When do you think you’ll get to this particular project?’” English relayed. “And I told him what the project was, and he said to a staff person in the back of the room, ‘Would you move that up on the list so that I can get back to this woman?’”
English said she was waiting to hear back on a follow-up she sent Monday.
Wednesday’s vote follows a prompt from David Wasserman, NCDOT’s deputy director of the State Transportation Improvement Program, Feasibility Studies and Strategic Prioritization. Wasserman emailed Kozlosky on April 30 asking for feedback on whether to continue studying the bridge as a toll project.
“The project would need to be included in the WMPO Metropolitan Transportation Plan in order to move forward as tolled,” Wasserman wrote.
Kozlosky responded the WMPO has not taken formal action to alter its position from February 2022, when the WMPO supported NCDOT exploring all funding options and seeking grant funding. Nor has the board changed its stance from the January 2024 decision to submit the tolled bridge option.
The director told Wasserman this still remained the organization’s position and didn’t say he would bring the issue before the board again.
The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge has been making other headlines in the last few weeks, most notably when the United States Army Corps of Engineers announced their recommendation for a minimum bridge height — 135 feet.
NCDOT has been exploring three options for the CFMB replacement — a 65-foot movable span, a 100-foot (plus or minus) fixed bridge and a 135-foot fixed bridge. With the lowest option largely considered to be too expensive, public debate has centered around the 100-foot or 135-foot bridge. Those advocating for the former want to minimize physical impact to downtown’s historic district, where the bridge will be constructed, and financial impact on taxpayer wallets. Supporters of the higher bridge want to ensure the bridge can meet potential future demand for larger ships that may come into the Wilmington harbor.
The U.S. Coast Guard will have final say over the bridge height, though its permit decision will be informed by USACE’s determination.
[Ed. Note: This article has been corrected to note Brunswick County Commissioner Mike Forte cast the vote in favor of the resolution, not Commissioner Frank Williams, who was absent. PCD regrets the error.]
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
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