The 55-year-old N.C. 11 bridge over the Cape Fear River is slated for replacement in 2011.

• Engineer says aging link to Bladen on TIP list for 2011.

By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

Residents of extreme eastern Columbus and Bladen counties will have to wait several more years, but a new bridge is in the works.

N.C. Dept. of Transportation engineer Drew Cox said Monday that the 55-year-old truss bridge on N.C. 11 over the Cape Fear River is slated to be replaced in 2011, if environmental requirements can be met and the project is not pushed back.

“Right now it’s a qualified go,” Cox said.

The project is estimated to cost $10.5 million, although that number may change with continuing increases in costs of construction materials. Known as the Blackrock Bridge, the steel bridge is one of only three bridges crossing the Cape Fear between Fayetteville and Wilmington. The U.S. 701 bridge at Elizabethtown is a span bridge, built in the 1970’s, and replaced a narrower steel truss bridge.

That bridge was a cousin to those at Tar Heel in northwestern Bladen and the Blackrock bridge. Both are more than a half-century old. The steel truss bridges are a type that hasn’t been used for decades, and both are showing the wear and tear of heavy truck traffic.

The Tar Heel bridge, while serving Smithfield pork processing plant, handles slightly fewer vehicles per day than the Blackrock Bridge. The Tar Heel Bridge has also been damaged more often than the Blackrock Bridge, Cox said, but growth is helping speed the new Blackrock Bridge.

Increasing traffic counts in western Pender, eastern Bladen and in Columbus, along with general growth in the Acme Delco Riegelwood area, have helped keep the Blackrock project higher on the list.

“This is a major corridor for both tourist traffic and industry,” Cox said. “It’s a very busy, very important bridge.”
According to DOT traffic counts, 3,900 vehicles per day go through the junction of N.C. 11, N.C. 53 and N.C. 210, four miles northeast of the river.

On the Columbus County side, 5,300 vehicles per day go through the N.C. 11/N.C. 87 intersection, a short distance from the Blackrock Bridge.

The project is actually composed of three bridges, two on the causeway and the older model truss bridge.

Part of the problem with the Blackrock project is the distance.

While the river itself isn’t unusually wide at Blackrock, the bridge extends east across more than a mile of causeway built up in swamps and wetlands known as overflow drainage areas.

The Columbus side of the river at Blackrock is a high, soft-ground bluff, while the lowlands are more than a mile – and 40 feet lower – on the Bladen side.

The causeway was built across wetlands to allow a gradual incline to reach the main bridge.

At its base, the causeway is 100 feet wide in some places, and contains thousands of cubic yards of fill material.

“You couldn’t build a causeway like that now,” Cox said.

The state will likely have to span the entire length of the wetlands, Cox said.

Several details other than the environmental issues will have to be worked out before the project begins, Cox said, including what to do with the traffic that usually crosses the bridge.

Some commuter and tourist traffic can be diverted to the Elwell Ferry, a short distance away, but the ferry only holds two vehicles at a time, and can’t carry transfer trucks.

“The ferry can handle some of the car traffic,” he said, “but not all of it.”

The ferry is also closed down by the U.S. Coast Guard during foggy or stormy weather, and runs only between sunrise and sunset.

Cox said he understood the concerns of people who drive N.C. 11 daily on trips to Wilmington, Burgaw, International Paper or other destinations.

“It’s a narrow bridge,” he said. “We do look forward to replacing it.”

Cox said DOT employees are also anxious to see the bridge improved.

“Believe me, as happy as the people in Kelly and Riegelwood will be to see that bridge replaced, the maintenance guys who have to get out there and work on it will be happier.”