WILMINGTON — Hurricane Florence caused millions of dollars worth of damage when it hit the Cape Fear Region in 2018, including the destruction of public roadways and bridges due to washout. One of the main arteries into the region, Highway 421, washed-out near the Pender County/New Hanover County border — now, nearly two years later the North Carolina Department of Transportation has completed the construction of two new bridges.
“The N.C. Department of Transportation has completed construction on two bridges at the New Hanover-Pender county line, which was the state’s most damaged area during Hurricane Florence. Crews built a temporary bridge after the storm and in February 2019 NCDOT started on the construction of two two-lane bridges on U.S. 421 over Fishing Creek,” according to the NCDOT.
Previously the roadway was devoid of bridges, instead, a culvert directed water beneath it, but after the storm, NCDOT realized that was an inadequate plan in catastrophic events.
“Last year, one year after Hurricane Florence, Gov. Roy Cooper and NCDOT staff met at this site to discuss lessons learned and to receive a project update. The highway, which is one of the area’s main thoroughfares, fully reopened to traffic Wednesday afternoon. By putting bridges at this location instead of replacing the damaged culvert under the highway, more water can flow beneath the bridge which makes it more resilient to future storms,” according to the NCDOT.
