The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is in the process of updating its long-range transportation improvement plan that could address multiple transportation improvements in Brunswick County.
The department's 2028-2037 State Transportation Improvement Program, also referred to as STIP, is in development and several costly projects in Brunswick are being considered, including another ferry and massive highway widening.
Every two years, NCDOT updates its state transportation improvement program using a data-driven process called strategic prioritization. The program results in detailed funding and construction schedules for select transportation projects over a 10-year period.
The current cycle to update the STIP is called Prioritization
8.0 or P8.0 and started in summer 2025 when NCDOT divisions and local transportation planning organizations gathered initial public input on projects. The organizations submit projects for NCDOT to score each project based on estimated costs and benefits the road improvement will provide.
Two of the highest scoring projects for Brunswick revolve around the Southport-Fort Fisher Ferry and N.C. 211.
With the draft 2028-2037 STIP expected to be released in early 2027, here are two of the biggest projects being looked at for Brunswick and how they would improve transportation.
Southport Ferry upgrades
Project: Replace vessels, install second ramps, expand the operations building/visitor centers
Max cost: $74,591,000
The highest scoring non-highway project involves installing second ramps at Fort Fisher and Southport terminals. However, multiple improvements and replacements are pushing to be included in future planning. Each project is being looked at both individually and in different groupings.
There are currently two-ferry passages between Fort Fisher and Southport. One of the projects is a $35 million line item for a new river class ferry. For one grouping,
One of the most expensive proposed projects for the ferry system includes purchasing an additional vessel, installing the second ramps and replacing/expanding the dorm at Southport. The entire project is expected to cost $74,591,000.
Local leaders in 2019 requested funds to acquire an additional river class ferry vessel to reduce expected passenger congestion, according to previous reporting. However, the request was only $14 million then.
Replacing and expanding the operations buildings/visitor centers at each ferry terminal is another project. The project would cost nearly $4,500,000, with Southport's structures costing more than $3 million alone.
Replacing existing ferries with new river class ferries is also being considered as their own projects, each anticipated to cost the NCDOT $30,000,000.
N.C. 211 widening continued
Project: Widen N.C. 211 from Sunset Harbor Road to U.S. 17
Cost: $244,800,000
Drivers taking N.C. 211 from U.S. 17 to Southport have already seen some big improvements and traffic pattern changes over the last year. Construction began in January 2022 to widen a 7.2-mile stretch of N.C. 211 from two lanes to four lanes from Midway Road to N.C. 87. Road work also included installing interchanges at the existing intersections near Oak Island, St. James and Southport.
The large project of transforming N.C. 211 from two to four lanes has been divided into three chunks, with the most recent upgrades being the first phase.
The N.C. 211 corridor falls along a shared planning boundary under two transportation organizations. Both groups have been committed to prioritizing improvements to the busy corridor and working with the NCDOT to improve traffic flow, driver safety and traffic capacity, as well as provide a safer evacuation route.
Local leaders are encouraging the NCDOT to continue widening N.C. 211 from Midway Road to Sunset Harbor Road, with a rough cost estimate of $95,600,000. The project, if supported, funded and completed, would upgrade roughly four more miles of N.C. 211 from two lanes to four lanes.
Widening N.C. 211 from Midway Road to Sunset Harbor Road is in the current 2024-2033 NCDOT State Transportation Improvement Program. However, the project, known as phase two, has not received funding.
Preliminary engineering to improve the N.C. 211 and U.S. 17 is on the table for funding in the NCDOT's 2024-2035 State Transportation Improvement Program. Though, the estimated $141,200,000 cost to fund construction of converting the intersection to an interchange has not been funded.
Phase three, if eventually put into the STIP, funded and built, would widen 5.5 miles of N.C. 211 from Sunset Harbor Road to U.S. 17. This has also been submitted by Brunswick for future prioritization.
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Savanna Tenenoff covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at stenenoff@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: NCDOT considers big transit upgrades for Brunswick
