Last Saturday morning, October 24, runners lined up for the Seaside Shuffle. The Wilmington Road Runners Club presents the race, and all proceeds go to the club's scholarship program. The organizer billed this year's race as "the last 5K on the traditional Wrightsville Beach 'Loop' Course before bridge construction begins."
The bridge replacement plan is built to keep cars moving onto and off the island the whole time. What gives way first is the island's shared route on foot and bike, and after that, the timing on the waterway.
The drive onto the island is the part the plan protects
The project replaces three bridges. Two carry West Salisbury Street, which is US 74, over Lees Cut and Banks Channel. The third is the Causeway Drive bridge over Banks Channel on US 76. NCDOT lists the estimated cost at $105 million and gives the completion window as 2030 to 2032.
Town and state officials have said at least two travel lanes in each direction will stay open for the whole multi-year project. Wrightsville Beach emergency officials have also arranged for police, fire and EMS personnel to be stationed on both sides of the work zones at all times, WECT reported. The new Causeway bridge is being built next to the existing one, so traffic keeps using Causeway Drive while the work goes on. With car access secured, the disruption falls on the Loop and the waterway.
Phase 1 reaches the Loop before it reaches the commute
On October 1, NCDOT awarded Balfour Beatty an $8.67 million contract for Phase 1. That phase covers the smaller West Salisbury Street bridge over Lees Cut and the waterline relocation. Utility crews were expected to start moving waterlines in October, a job of about four to six weeks. Equipment would be on Pelican Drive and the shoulder of West Salisbury Street, and traffic was not expected to be affected. Once the waterline work is done, West Salisbury over Lees Cut closes to traffic, on a date still to be announced, according to WECT.
When it does close, West Salisbury Street shuts from Lookout Harbor to the eastern entrance of Pelican Drive. Two lanes in each direction stay open on Causeway Drive, WilmingtonBiz reported. NCDOT's public project page says the road at Lees Cut stays closed for as long as that bridge is under construction.
The Loop sits right next to this work. The Town's land-use plan describes the John Nesbitt Loop as a 2.45-mile trail for walking, biking, jogging and skating. It starts at Causeway Drive, wraps around North Lumina, follows Salisbury Street over Banks Channel and comes back to Causeway. At an October community meeting of the Wrightsville Beach Bridge Replacement Committee, members said access to the Loop will be restricted once crews start on the Lees Cut bridge. The Town plans to share the dates when they are set, WECT reported.
Neal Andrew chairs the committee. He told WECT why it holds these meetings:
"I feel it's important to make sure my neighbors, my friends, and business owners are as prepared as possible for the upcoming work that will be disruptive, but we are trying to minimize those disruptions."
The committee meets next on November 9 in the Wrightsville Beach Public Safety Building Conference Room. Neither the Town nor NCDOT has published a firm Loop closure date or a walking and biking detour yet. That makes this meeting the next likely place for one to come out.
Three phases, each one changing a different part of the routine
The construction approach changed the calendar. NCDOT Division 3 Engineer Trevor Carroll explained that the original schedule ran about six years, finishing roughly one bridge every two years. The construction manager/general contractor method lets Phases 2 and 3 run at the same time, with separate crews working on the Banks Channel and Causeway bridges together. That makes spring 2030 the target, which Carroll called a target that could change. Here is the order, as WilmingtonBiz laid it out:
- Phase 1, Lees Cut bridge, starting late 2026. West Salisbury closes from Lookout Harbor to the eastern Pelican Drive entrance, and Causeway Drive keeps two lanes each way. This is the phase that reaches the Loop.
- Phase 2, Banks Channel bridge on West Salisbury, starting summer 2027. West Salisbury closes from Lookout Harbor to North Lumina Avenue. Parking on West Salisbury stays open, and the new bridge goes up north of the current one. NCDOT says vehicles in this phase are detoured to Causeway Drive.
- Phase 3, Causeway Drive bridge, starting late 2028. Traffic moves onto the new Causeway lanes. One lane each way stays open on Causeway and one each way on Salisbury, and the Causeway multi-use path stays open through every phase.
Read in order, the list shows how the load moves. The Salisbury Street side carries the closures in 2026 and 2027, and Causeway Drive is the steady route. By late 2028 the arrangement reverses, and Salisbury takes half the traffic while Causeway gets rebuilt. Through all of it, the Causeway multi-use path is the one walking connection the plan keeps open in every phase.
The drawbridge change is smaller for pleasure boats than the headlines suggest
The schedule change that has drawn the most attention is that once active construction starts, the Heide Trask Drawbridge will open only on the hour. The Coast Guard's proposed temporary rule, published in the Federal Register on August 27, shows what that means in practice. Under the current rule, the bridge opens on signal for commercial vessels at all times. Pleasure vessels already wait for the hour between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
| Current rule | Proposed rule, Nov. 1, 2026 to June 30, 2030 | |
|---|---|---|
| Pleasure vessels, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Opens on the hour | Opens on the hour |
| Commercial vessels, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Opens on signal at any time | Opens on the hour |
| Towing, dredging, marine construction and aids-to-navigation vessels that cannot make an hourly opening | Opens on signal | Opens on signal with at least 30 minutes' notice |
During the day, a recreational boater would see little change. The new part is that daytime openings for commercial traffic would line up with the hour instead of happening whenever a vessel signals. Under the proposal, the draw still opens for emergencies with at least 10 minutes' notice to the bridge tender. NCDOT, which owns the bridge, asked for this to ease congestion while lanes are reduced on the nearby bridges. When the drawbridge is closed it gives 20 feet of vertical clearance above mean high water. The proposal also keeps the existing race-morning closures, when the draw need not open for annual races. One of them falls on the fourth Saturday of September, the slot this year's YMCA Wrightsville Beach Sprint Triathlon used on September 26.
The proposal is not final yet. Comments closed September 28. The regulations.gov docket shows the August proposal and four public comments, and no final rule is posted there. One commenter pointed out that the proposal's summary describes hourly openings without a time limit, while the regulatory text limits them to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you run a boat for work, check the docket before you plan trips on the waterway. This is general information, not legal advice, and the Coast Guard's bridge management office is the right contact for questions about a specific vessel.
What the Loop gets back in 2030
The finished bridges won't add travel lanes for cars. They do rebuild the Loop's crossings around people on foot and bike. The new Causeway bridge will have four 11-foot travel lanes, a 6-foot bike lane in each direction and a 12-foot multi-use path on its north side. The two West Salisbury bridges will each have one lane in each direction, two 6-foot bike lanes and a 12-foot multi-use path on the south side. NCDOT describes the current spans as safe but near the end of their life cycle, which is why they now need more frequent inspection and maintenance. The latest round, on the Heide Trask Drawbridge October 20 to 22, closed one lane at a time between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The island's late-fall calendar stays on the Causeway side, the route the plan keeps open. Taste of Wrightsville Beach is November 14 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Bluewater Waterfront Grill, 4 Marina St., and benefits Weekend Meals on Wheels. The Town's Christmas Kickoff and Tree Lighting is November 27 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Wrightsville Beach Park, 321 Causeway Drive. The NC Holiday Flotilla follows on November 28, with Day in the Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the boat parade at 6 p.m. and fireworks afterward.
If you own on Harbor Island or near the Salisbury Street side, this phased bridge schedule now belongs in any conversation about timing a sale or a purchase over the next few years. Angela Drum and our team follow these project updates closely so we can say how each phase affects access, showings and marketing for a home near the work. Request a complimentary market strategy and home valuation, and we'll map your property against the construction calendar.
