The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has formally recommended that a replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge have a vertical clearance of no less than 135 feet.

Following its review of the proposed replacement project, the Army Corps sent a letter to Trevor Carroll, the N.C. Department of Transportation’s District 3 engineer, late last week with its determination that a bridge with a vertical clearance of less than 135 feet “would be injurious to the purpose of the federal project and the usefulness of the federal project would be negatively impacted.”

The “federal project” refers to the federally authorized Wilmington Harbor Federal Navigation Project, which encompasses the channel under and around the bridge, according to Jed Cayton, a public affairs specialist with the Army Corps of Engineers. 

The letter states that the Army Corps of Engineers will “terminate any further analysis of the construction of a bridge with a vertical clearance less than 135 feet above the current (Mean Higher High Water or MHHW) elevation.”

Local leaders have pushed for years to replace the aging bridge built in 1969. Transportation officials consider the 3,000-foot-long steel vertical lift bridge, which links New Hanover and Brunswick counties, functionally obsolete – meaning its design is not up to current standards. 

During the Army Corps’ technical analysis, the Wilmington District’s navigation and project management branches “reviewed the plans for this proposed project in light of the federal project’s authorized purpose of commercial navigation and determined that a replacement bridge with a horizontal clearance of 450 feet and a vertical clearance of 135 is necessary to ensure that there are no adverse effects to the federal project.”

The existing Cape Fear Memorial Bridge has a horizontal navigation clearance of about 400 feet, a closed vertical navigation clearance of 65 feet and a raised vertical navigation clearance of 135 feet.

The analysis states that officials with the Department of Transportation are considering two alternatives for the bridge replacement, including Alternative B, which involves replacing the existing bridge with a fixed bridge with a vertical navigation clearance of 135 feet and a horizontal clearance of 450 feet, and Alternative C, which would replace the existing bridge with a fixed bridge with a vertical navigation clearance of 100 feet (+/- 35 feet) and a horizontal clearance of 450 feet.

Last fall, NCDOT presented Alternatives B and C as replacement options during a public input period along with Alternative A, a movable span bridge with a 65-foot vertical clearance when closed and 135-foot clearance when open.

The bridge options have sparked concerns among some downtown residents about the impact the 135-foot alternative could have on the historic neighborhoods around downtown Wilmington. Others have voiced support for the 135-foot option, saying anything shorter would be short-sighted and not in the interest of future growth.

A minimum clearance recommendation from the U.S. Coast Guard is also expected later this year. 

As for the Army Corps, Cayton said the agency is waiting for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process to be completed for the project. Once complete, the Army Corps can continue moving through its section 408 permit process.