SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — It’s the time of year when Port City Daily counts down its most read pieces throughout 2023.
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The replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge has been a hot topic in 2023. This year Port City Daily has published numerous articles on updates surrounding it — including tolls, whether it will score high enough to be a funding priority for NCDOT, and ongoing costly repairs.
However, the most popular coverage came in May when the Historic Wilmington Foundation director Travis Gilbert presented the Eagle’s Island Task Force with his idea to preserve it after its replacement in order to turn it into a pedestrian park.
The possible adaptive reuse of the aging infrastructure is eligible to be listed on the National Historic Registry.
“It’s the Historic Wilmington Foundation’s opinion that the bridge is now a local landmark, a staple, one of the visuals that creates the identity of Wilmington and our region,” Gilbert said.
Though no ideas have been fully fleshed out, as the bridge hasn’t been retired, Gilbert suggested looking toward the Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as inspiration. It that opened in 1993 as a pedestrian walkway connecting two areas of attractions; people can rent the space and it’s often used for farmers markets and community gatherings, for instance.
A walkway also exists over the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, New York, and was turned into a recreation area in 2009; data from 2017 shows it served 590,000 visitors.
The Purple People Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a collaboration between two states as it connects Newport, Kentucky, with the Ohio city. It opened in 2006 after a $4 million restoration and received funding by the Kentucky legislature. It’s maintained as a joint property between the city of Newport and South Bank Partners.
State and federal funding was available for those examples, while research was ongoing at the time on how to cover maintenance on the project.
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