The weekend bridge closure that had commuters backed up on U.S. 17 as far south as the N.C. 87 interchange in Leland was planned despite many motorists’ claims the closure was not announced.
Renee Goldsmith, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said the closure was planned as part of DOT’s on-going maintenance of the bridge.
Notice of the closure, however, was mistakenly withheld.
Several more closures are planned for the coming weeks, including Monday night into Tuesday morning.
The bridge will close at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1, and reopen at 5 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2. The bridge will close at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, and reopen at 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Bridge closures will continue from 8 p.m.-5 a.m. Oct. 10-12.
Brunswick County Emergency Services Director Anthony Marzano said bridge closures often impede emergency traffic because ambulances take patients from Brunswick County to the area’s major trauma center at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.
“From our perspective, in emergency services, we plan for the unexpected, so this is just another situation where we had to roll with it and adjust the best we could,” Marzano said.
Brunswick County EMS responded to one vehicle in which the driver suffered a medical emergency while sitting in traffic.
“We started noticing issues Saturday morning at about 11 a.m. The challenge for us is not only is it going to take us a long time to get the patient to New Hanover or Cape Fear, it doubles the problems because then it takes us that long to get the ambulance back over the bridge and in service.
“It’s a known traffic bottleneck and having lights and sirens doesn’t do any good when all lanes are blocked with traffic. If everything else is in gridlock, even an ambulance can’t move very well,” Marzano said.
Marzano said DOT officials typically communicate bridge closures with emergency officials in a timely manner.
“We normally get plenty of advance notice from DOT, and then we make sure that the dispatch center and the folks in EMS are aware of any kind of closure—particularly one that impacts a major route to our local trauma center. It was a surprise, but it’s generally very uncharacteristic of what DOT usually does in terms of providing information to us,” Marzano said.
A signed detour will direct motorists entering or leaving Wilmington on U.S. 17-Business, U.S. 76 East or U.S. 421 South to use Isabel Holmes Bridge while the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is closed.
