LELAND — More than a year after it was originally scheduled for completion, the Leland leg of the Interstate 140 Wilmington Bypass will open to traffic Thursday afternoon.
The stretch of divided highway that connects U.S. 17 west of Brunswick Forest with U.S. 74-76 west of its interchange with Mt. Misery and Lanvale roads will open to traffic immediately following a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled at 2 p.m.
The road will be open to traffic thereafter, a spokesman with the North Carolina Department of Transportation confirmed.
Brian Rick, a spokesman for the DOT’s Division 3, said wrap-up work will continue on the highway over the next several weeks, but he said the road will remain open to traffic.
“It will be open tomorrow after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, but there will be some final touches in the weeks to come,” he said.
Spanning just over five miles, the leg was originally scheduled for completion in September 2014. Additional work to its interchange with U.S. 74-76 delayed the project, increasing its overall cost from $81.6 million to $118.85 million, according to information on the DOT’s website.
Division Engineer Karen Fussell has said the additional work was needed due to safety concerns at the interchange, which is located on a bend of a busy stretch of 74-76. At recent meetings on the nearby causeway widening project, which will add lanes where 17 and 74-76 overlap on the causeway between Leland and Wilmington, Fussell said staff determined the interchange would need traffic signals and other safety features added.
Those features included median crossings and additional pavement markings, grading and drainage work.
While the opening of the leg will not improve traffic congestion on the causeway, where the widening of U.S. 17-74-76 has caused regular backups, the new road adds one more piece to the puzzle of the Wilmington Bypass, which will ultimately connect Brunswick and New Hanover counties via a second bridge across the Cape Fear River.
Construction for that third and final leg of the bypass, which will continue the Leland leg to connect with U.S. 421 across the river, started earlier this year and is scheduled for completion by November 2017. DOT officials have said the reason why the Leland leg was constructed first was because funding for that project was available earlier.
Related story: DOT hears from residents causeway construction, traffic frustrations
Ten years in the making, the bypass has cost upward of $200 million since the first leg’s construction in the mid-2000s. With the river crossing involved, the final leg is budgeted to cost more than the first two combined at nearly $246 million.
Related stories:
- Work underway on bypass river crossing; Leland leg remains closed to traffic
- Leland leg of Wilmington Bypass to remain closed to traffic until next spring
- Former meat packing plant, said to be haunted, gives way to Wilmington Bypass
Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or [email protected]. On Twitter: @jrspiers
