Construction crews have started clearing land on the Gaston County side of the Catawba River along NC-7, kicking off work this September on a long-awaited replacement for the Sloan's Ferry Bridge carrying US-74/Wilkinson Boulevard. The nearly century-old crossing between Gaston and Mecklenburg counties will be replaced and widened from four lanes to six, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
The project, first reported by Queen City News, will give the new span three travel lanes in each direction along with 10-foot multiuse paths on both sides. Those paths are engineered to connect Gaston College, Kevin Loftin Riverfront Park in Belmont, and the Iswa Nature Preserve, establishing a pedestrian and bicycle link across the Catawba River where crossing options have historically been sparse, according to WCNC. The new bridge's centerline will also rise at its midpoint to add roughly 10 feet of vertical clearance for boats navigating Lake Wylie, per the same outlet's reporting.
The Sloan's Ferry Bridge
The finished project will include new aesthetic features and scenic overlooks, Queen City News reports.
Why the Bottleneck Keeps Backing Up
NCDOT public engagement records show the current bridge creates a recurring bottleneck because Wilkinson Boulevard narrows from six lanes on the Gaston County side to five lanes on the Mecklenburg County side, a pinch point that worsens whenever I-85 traffic gets detoured onto US-74 during highway incidents, according to NCDOT's public input portal. As part of the fix, the US-29/74 intersection at NC-7 will be reconstructed into a reduced-conflict intersection, and the NC-7 intersections at Hazeline Avenue and Moores Chapel Loop will also receive improvements, Queen City News reports.
The $78 million contract went to San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corporation, with NCDOT officially awarding contract C204773 on May 19 and issuing formal notification on June 1, 2026. The contract covers both the river bridge replacement and the NC-7 intersection redesigns under project numbers B-6051 and U-6143.
Years of Delay Before the First Shovel
NCDOT initially expected the project to start in June 2024, but construction began this September. NCDOT's project information posted online dates back to 2022.
Construction will take place offline, adjacent to the existing span, before traffic is shifted onto the finished structure, the report notes. Wilkinson Boulevard will see nighttime lane closures when necessary to support safe construction, while NC-7 and Hazeline Avenue will have daytime lane closures from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Part of a Much Bigger Corridor Overhaul
The Sloan's Ferry replacement doesn't stand alone. In July 2025, NCDOT awarded a separate $337 million contract to Lane Construction Corp. to widen four miles of nearby Interstate 85 from six to eight lanes between Exit 23 in Mount Holly and Exit 27 in Belmont, according to North Carolina Construction News. That project also touches the NC-7/US-74 interchange tied to the bridge work.
Public radio station WFAE 90.7 reported in May that the 10-mile Gaston County I-85 widening project alone is estimated to cost $1.5 billion, with NCDOT dividing the improvements into separate segments to manage funding.
