NEW HANOVER COUNTY — As the City of Wilmington seeks an alternative construction plan for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement, New Hanover County is requesting federal leaders reexamine the replacement plans and provide more funding ahead of approaching decision deadlines.
On Thursday, county commissioners sent a letter to North Carolina’s two senators — Ted Budd and Thom Tillis — as well as Rep. David Rouzer, the county’s congressman in the House of Representatives. The letter asks Congress authorize an updated study of the current and future navigational needs of the Cape Fear River, as well as additional funding for the project.
The project has already received a Large Bridge Grant worth $242 million, which was awarded a few years ago and covers only a portion of the projected cost of the bridge replacement — now estimated at $1.1 billion. Though the North Carolina Department of Transportation has chipped in $85 million, the project is currently on track to be tolled in order to recoup its cost.
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Affecting price are the current bridge designs, currently on the table is a 65-foot bridge with a movable span, like the current Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, or a 135-foot fixed bridge. Though both cost roughly $1.1 billion, a third option — the 100-foot fixed bridge — would cost less. However, it was eliminated as a possibility after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Coast Guard determined the height of the replacement structure should be at least 135 feet.
The federal agencies made the determination based on a 1996 feasibility study preceding the Wilmington Navigation Project, which is the maintenance of the current depth of the river. The study noted a theoretical vessel with a length of 712 feet, a width of 106 feet, and up to 75,000 gross tons would need a bridge with a height range between 120 feet and 147 feet. Thus, USACE concluded a bridge less than 135 feet would essentially be limiting the channel’s potential.
However, many advocates for the 100-foot bridge point to a decrease in bridge openings for large ships as the waterfront shifts away from industrial uses. It decreased from 188 in 2019 to 63 in 2025, with the majority of those 2025 lifts being for recreational vessels.
The county’s letter notes the USACE’s determination was not made on the waterway’s “actual navigational needs” and calls for a new assessment based on “current and future economic activity.”
The letter states: “New Hanover County has prioritized conservation and preservation in this area, including through direct purchases of land north of the bridge with the intent of maintaining it as undeveloped property. Additionally, waterways north of the current bridge are shallower than the river channel south of the bridge.”
The commissioners’ federal push follows NCDOT’s public hearings this week, where several area leaders spoke, including Commissioner Rob Zapple. The commissioner read from the letter sent to federal leaders.
According to the correspondence, the county believes a new assessment would be compatible with the current project timelines and welcomes an extension of the federal grant timeline, whose funds need to be obligated by September 2027. However, should a reassessment be harmful to the timeline, commissioners are requesting the bridge have a movable span and be constructed similarly to the current bridge structure.
Aside from the letter, the county has also instructed one of its federal advocates, Drew Heath of Nelson Mullins, to undertake a “comprehensive advocacy plan” on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement.
The plan includes working with NCDOT on potentially extending the September 2027 obligation deadline for the federal $242 million grant, as well as working with the state agency on a “unified capital plan.”
- Heath will be in Washington, D.C., later this month scheduling meetings with the offices of Congressman Rouzer and Senators Tillis and Budd to explore additional funding opportunities in the federal fiscal year 2027-28 budget — and possibly in the proposed $580 billion Build America Act, which includes a proposed $45 billion for bridge funding.
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