WILMINGTON — Starting in the new year, two lanes of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge will close to traffic for crews to repair the moveable bridge deck.
READ MORE: 5-month lane shutdown slated for costly CF bridge deck replacement
ALSO: Is pursuing a toll the way to replace CF Memorial Bridge? State official says yes
Slated for Jan. 3, the eastbound lanes into Wilmington will shutter, as the westbound lanes remain open to traffic. Travelers heading into Wilmington will be rerouted to the Isabel Holmes Bridge off Highway 421, to exit onto Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.
When the Azalea Festival arrives April 1-7, the bridge will reopen for the weekend.
Crews will begin work again tentatively on April 8, with the westbound lanes into Brunswick County then closed to traffic, to reopen ahead of Memorial Day.
The $7.1-million preservation project, overseen by Southern Road & Bridge LLC, will extend the life of the 50-year-old bridge. According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, because of its age, the bridge must be monitored, inspected and maintained more frequently.
“Daily inspections of the steel vertical-lift bridge have shown the need to conduct longer-lasting improvements,” NCDOT said in a release.
NCDOT has incentivized the Southern Road and Bridge contractor with a $500,000 bonus to complete the work early.
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