Across the region, major infrastructure projects and upgrades are underway or in the planning stages. 
 
Many of the projects are meant to accommodate the region’s growth, but some are designed around a specific mission, such as ensuring residents have contaminant-free water to drink or the goal of redirecting truck traffic at the port to railroads to reduce carbon emissions. 
 
Whether it be port, airport, water or transportation improvements, hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds are being expended to bring these massive projects.
 

ROADWAY UPDATE

After years of preparation, state contractors broke ground on the much-anticipated, nearly 13-mile Hampstead Bypass in March. The estimated $429 million N.C. Department of Transportation project was split into two sections, A and B, to help it secure the state funding necessary to build the costly roadway.
 
State officials predict that the project, once complete, will reduce traffic traveling on Highway 17 in Pender County by half. The first $185 million leg that Conti Civil LLC is constructing spans 7 miles and includes road improvements to Highway 17 and a new roadway that connects east of N.C. 210. This section is anticipated to open to traffic in 2026, according to an NCDOT spokesperson. Improvements on the existing roadway include raised medians and redesigned safety features. 
 
Work on the second leg, which will connect west of N.C. 210 to Interstate 140 is expected to begin in late 2026 and open in 2030. 
 
Though $176 million has been spent on property acquisitions so far since 2018, right-of-way work for both sections still isn’t complete, according to the transportation spokesperson.
 

PORT INVESTMENTS 

The Port of Wilmington is growing, continually adding to its existing lineup. Port officials have several capital projects underway, including an $18 million project made possible due to a federal grant announced in August to upgrade the port’s rail infrastructure.  
 
Redirecting cargo traffic from truck to rail with the planned improvements will help reduce emissions and improve efficiencies, according to port officials. Once complete, the rail upgrades will help redirect an estimated 250,000 containers from truck to rail over the next decade. 
 
Planning work is currently underway, and the project is expected to be operational by 2025.  
Work on the second phase of the port’s refrigerated container yard expansion is also ongoing. This $22.6 million phase will add 704 new plugs to the yard on the heels of the 540 plugs added in May 2020 through the first $14 million phase. Electric plugs allow refrigerated cargo to remain cool while awaiting shipment.
 
An abundant perishable export market filled the first phase of plugs quickly, according to port officials, necessitating an accelerated schedule for the second phase. This latest phase is expected to wrap up next year and bring the port’s plug total to 1,479. 
 

PARALLEL PIPELINE 

The region’s raw water supplier, Lower Cape Fear Water & Sewer Authority, landed $23.5 million from the latest state budget. The funding is planned to cover the bulk of the cost of installing a 10-mile pipeline to cross under the Cape Fear River that would run parallel to an existing older line.  
 
Last fall, a leak in a section of that older line alerted the authority to a system vulnerability that could leave the region without adequate water capacity. So local officials passed resolutions and got state regulators to fund a project to install a second line, which would begin at Brunswick County’s Northwest Water Treatment Plant and eventually cross under the river before it reaches Pender County.
 
Tim Holloman, LCFWASA’s executive director, said the project was still in the planning stage. Because the state’s award covers less than half of the $54 million total project cost, Holloman said the authority is re-evaluating and discussing phasing or obtaining alternative funds.  
 
In a separate LCFWASA project that finished this spring, local utilities spent $37.3 million to install a 14-mile pipeline stretching from Riegelwood to Brunswick County’s Northwest Water Treatment Plant; this was also a parallel line that runs next to the older one.
 

ILM EXPANSION

Wilmington International Airport passed a major milestone early this year with the opening of its newly lengthened 77,600-square-foot terminal with the addition of three new gates. Then came news of a planned hotel on the ILM Business Park premises, and in June, ILM landed its first low-cost carrier with Avelo.  
 
Of ILM’s three-phase, $75 million terminal expansion project, $55 million has been completed, according to airport spokesperson Erin McNally. Several components of the third phase of expansion work are still under construction, including an “exit lane, renovation of the baggage claim area, as well as remodeling of the rental car area and the original gate area,” McNally said. This work is estimated to be completed by spring 2023.
 
Other capital improvements are in the works, including a $10-million ramp project that’s 50% done with completion planned for the end of the year. A new common-use system, which is a technology that allows multiple carriers to utilize the same gate infrastructure at different times, will also be running by spring 2023.  
 
Several other projects are in the planning and exploration stages, including curb improvements, added parking, roadway realignment and general aviation infrastructure improvements, according to McNally.
 

CLEANER WATER  

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s water treatment project is a few months behind schedule, officials said. Initially, customers in the Wilmington area were told to expect to turn on their taps and receive water nearly completely free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants by this summer.  
 
But delays caused by labor shortages and supply chain issues prompted the longer wait time, CFPUA shared in an Aug. 10 update.  
 
The $42 million project at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant includes eight deep-bed granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration systems, which will each rid raw water sourced from the Cape Fear River of contaminants before sending it out to customers. The expansive project was necessitated by emerging contaminants discovered in the river, notably GenX, the trademarked chemical by Chemours, which has a manufacturing plant in Fayetteville that historically released unregulated discharges into the river.  
 
Only four of the eight GAC filters, CFPUA shared, need to be online to provide full PFAS treatment, which should occur prior to December.