For more than a year, the bridge project has lived in committee-meeting language. Design phase. Right-of-way acquisition. Geotechnical borings. If you've followed the Bridge Replacement Committee's monthly updates at all, those terms will sound familiar.
The timeline is now more concrete. NCDOT's timeline now puts construction on the first of three bridges starting sometime in the weeks after Labor Day this year, and Labor Day has already come and gone. The project that spent 2025 and most of 2026 as an abstraction is becoming a physical thing you have to plan around, and the way the town is handling the disruption to daily foot traffic says more about how this fall actually feels on the island than any restaurant opening does.
What Actually Closes First
Phase one targets the smaller of the three bridges: the span on West Salisbury Street over Lees Cut. According to the Town of Wrightsville Beach's project page, that closure runs West Salisbury Street from Lookout Harbour to the eastern entrance of Pelican Drive for the duration of construction, a stretch expected to take about a year. While that work is underway, the Heide Trask Drawbridge will limit its openings to once an hour, a Coast Guard-approved measure meant to keep boat and car traffic from colliding on an unpredictable schedule.
The Causeway Drive bridge, the island's main artery, stays open the entire time. Two lanes will run in each direction, and the multiuse path along it remains usable. That's a real distinction worth sitting with: the road most people think of as "the way onto the island" isn't the one closing first. The quieter Salisbury Street crossing is.
The Full Timeline, Now That There Is One
The three-bridge project carries a price tag of $105 million, up from an original estimate of $70 million, and NCDOT awarded the contract to Balfour Beatty Infrastructure using a construction manager/general contractor delivery method rather than the traditional bidding process. That method, according to Port City Daily's reporting, lets design and contracting happen at the same time instead of in sequence, and it's the reason the whole project moved from a 2032 finish to a target of spring 2030.
Here's how the three phases break down as currently scheduled:
| Phase | Bridge | Construction Start | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lees Cut (West Salisbury St.) | Late 2026 | Closing now, roughly one year |
| 2 | Salisbury Long Bridge (Banks Channel) | Summer 2027 | Salisbury short bridge and Causeway stay open |
| 3 | Causeway Drive (Banks Channel) | Late 2028 | Built in two halves so one side stays open |
Instead of building one bridge every two years as originally planned, all three will overlap into a single four-year span. Boat traffic continues throughout, subject to the drawbridge's new hourly schedule.
The Loop Doesn't Just Stop
Here's the detail that matters more than the road closure itself if you live here: the 2.5-mile Loop, the island's daily walking and jogging route, runs directly along the section of West Salisbury Street that's closing. For a lot of residents, that loop isn't a tourist activity. It's the route.
The town isn't pretending that disappears without a fix. At a June committee meeting, Town Manager Haynes Brigman told the Bridge Replacement Committee the town is pursuing preliminary design and a contractor for what's being called the Nesbitt Loop project, an expanded multiuse path meant to give walkers a way to keep using the loop during construction. The Board of Aldermen has already budgeted for it. As WWAYTV3 reported, committee chair Neal Andrew has described the plan in terms of "mini loops," smaller alternate routes stitched together so the daily habit survives even while the main path is torn up.
None of this is finalized. But the fact that a formal project exists to protect a walking habit, rather than just apologizing for its disruption, tells you the town is treating The Loop as infrastructure in its own right, not an amenity that can quietly go away for a year.
New Businesses on the Island
While all of this was working through committee, several new spots opened on the island this summer. Cabana Bar and Grill took over the former Waterman's Brewing space with a Caribbean-and-American menu. Shark Bar & Kitchen added Red Cat Sushi on its second floor, open from 3 p.m. daily with half-off sushi during happy hour. Tap Tea Bar moved into the old home of The Shed, serving boba drinks steps from the beach. And Jimmy's Inland, already a local favorite, opened a second location with a grand opening on August 30, catered by Chef Nick Chavez of King Neptune Restaurant.
Their openings don't establish anything about property values or long-term demand, but they are one part of the island's business news this fall.
The Rest of the Season Isn't Pausing Either
Ocean Rescue pulled its staffed lifeguard stands on Monday, September 21, shifting to truck and ATV patrols along the beach from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, a normal seasonal transition the fire department confirmed to WWAYTV3. Anyone who needs help outside those hours is directed to call 911, and the standard fall reminder applies: stay clear of the inlets and the jetty wall, where currents get unpredictable regardless of the season.
The fall event calendar is running its usual course too. The Outrigger East Coast Championship, hosted by the Wrightsville Beach Outrigger Canoe Club, runs October 4 and 5. The Seaside Shuffle 5k follows on October 18. The IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina Triathlon comes through on October 25. And Taste of Wrightsville Beach, with more than 35 food, wine and beer booths, closes out the season on November 1.
Every one of those events routes people, cars, and in some cases athletes on foot across the bridges affected by the construction project. None of the event organizers have announced changes because of the bridge work, but it's the kind of overlap worth building extra time into your morning if you're headed to watch or participate.
What This Adds Up To
The version of this fall that gets written about most is the one with new restaurants and a packed race calendar, and that version is accurate as far as it goes. But it undersells what's actually changing for the people who live here. This is the season the bridge project stopped being a line item in committee minutes and became a road you can't drive on and a loop you can't walk the way you used to. The town's workaround is the Nesbitt Loop project, and its design and the alternate "mini loop" routes are not yet finalized.
If you want to track the closure schedule directly instead of waiting on secondhand updates, NCDOT maintains a subscriber list that sends real-time email and text alerts as construction milestones hit. It's the fastest way to know before the detour signs go up near you.
If you're weighing how a multi-year infrastructure project like this affects property values or resale timing on the island, that's a conversation worth having directly. Team Gale knows this stretch of causeway as well as anyone, and a quick call can help you separate the noise from what actually matters for your situation. Call (910) 541-1212 to talk it through.