Three aging bridges connecting New Hanover County's mainland to Wrightsville Beach are getting a $105 million overhaul, and state transportation officials now say the project will wrap up two years sooner than originally planned. The North Carolina Department of Transportation had been targeting 2032 for completion, but a newly adopted construction approach is pushing that date up to spring 2030.
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the project represents an investment the agency expects to benefit the community for decades to come. The accelerated timeline comes from NCDOT's decision to use a Construction Manager/General Contractor delivery model, a collaborative procurement method allowed under state pilot legislation that brings the contractor into the design process early so crews can work on multiple phases at once, according to WilmingtonBiz. NCDOT awarded the primary contract to Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, which will replace the Causeway Drive bridge over Banks Channel and two West Salisbury Street bridges spanning Lees Cut and Banks Channel — all built in the 1960s and 1970s. WilmingtonBiz reports the three spans remain structurally safe but require increasingly frequent monitoring and maintenance as they age.
Budget Breakdown and Funding Sources
The project falls under State Transportation Improvement Program HB-0040, which now carries an estimated total budget of $105 million, up from an earlier baseline estimate of $70 million as planning progressed, per figures posted on PublicInput. That total breaks down into $70.8 million for construction, $32.2 million for property right-of-way acquisition, and $2 million for utility relocation. The itemized figures give residents a clearer picture of where the money is going as work ramps up on the barrier island's main access points.
Construction will unfold in three phases, starting in late 2026 with the Lees Cut bridge on West Salisbury Street. That phase requires a full closure of West Salisbury Street from Lookout Harbour to Pelican Drive for about a year, though Causeway Drive will stay open to two lanes in each direction, according to the same PublicInput data. The replacement structure over Lees Cut will be built immediately north of the existing bridge, allowing crews to construct the new span while tearing down the old one at the same time, as reported by Port City Daily.
Wider Lanes for Bikes and Pedestrians
Beyond speeding things up, the new designs also expand who the bridges serve. Both corridors will get a protected 12-foot multi-use pedestrian path and two dedicated bike lanes, with four travel lanes planned for the Causeway Drive bridge and two travel lanes for the West Salisbury Street bridges, WilmingtonBiz notes. NCDOT says the added multimodal features responded directly to priorities raised during public outreach sessions.
To keep traffic moving near the island's entry points during construction, NCDOT coordinated with the U.S. Coast Guard to limit openings of the nearby C. Heide Trask Drawbridge on U.S. 74/76 to once an hour, according to Citizen Portal. That drawbridge, a double-leaf bascule span built in 1956, is the sole inland drawbridge connector to the island and is not part of the bridge construction contract itself.
Protecting the Summer Tourist Season
State officials moved carefully to avoid disrupting peak beach season revenue. Pre-construction utility relocation along West Salisbury Street near Lees Cut began this summer using intermittent lane closures, while officials pledged to keep the main bridge open to vehicular traffic through Labor Day, according to Coastal Review. That utility work involves relocating municipal water lines, electrical conduit, and telecommunications infrastructure ahead of the heavier foundation driving to come.
The Town of Wrightsville Beach isn't waiting on the state to ease congestion. Local leaders authorized a separate $568,000 municipal capital project, funded from town reserves, to reconfigure the intersection of Causeway Drive, Waynick Boulevard, and North Lumina Avenue with dual turn lanes and upgraded signalization before bridge construction begins, according to the Town of Wrightsville Beach. Those intersection upgrades are locally managed and designed to remain permanently once the bridge project is finished.
Safeguarding Emergency Access
Municipal leadership also established a dedicated Bridge Replacement Committee and hired specialized public safety consultants to work alongside local police and fire departments, ensuring emergency medical and fire response stays uninterrupted throughout every project phase, town officials say. Emergency vehicles are expected to maintain designated priority access during lane shifts and detours over the coming years.
To keep residents, commuters, and business owners informed through the multi-year disruption, NCDOT launched a real-time digital communication system through PublicInput in June, offering email and text alerts with photos, videos, and construction milestone updates, per Coastal Review's report on the tool. The agency says early public engagement was requested by local business groups and neighborhood associations on Harbor Island, and the new alert system is meant to keep those stakeholders looped in as the Lees Cut closure and subsequent phases move forward toward the 2030 target.
