Peeling Back the Layers of Wilmington’s Infrastructure

As residents of the greater Cape Fear region, we’re all users of our region’s infrastructure. From roads to bridges to our airport and port — these are complex systems that are critical to how Wilmington functions. For our fifth session of Leadership Wilmington, we were privileged to get a behind-the-scenes look at much of our urban infrastructure and hear from the folks leading these organizations.  Here’s a breakdown of our day.
 
We kicked off our morning at CFCC’s Union Station (which was lovely, by the way) with Mike Kozlosky and Abby Lorenzo of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO). WMPO is our city’s group of decision-makers for planning transportation. Mike and Abby did a great job explaining how they secure funding for projects and shared a high-level overview of WMPO’s strategic plan for the next 25 years. The conversation shifted to an insightful discussion of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge project. The bridge was built in 1969 and has reached the end of its lifecycle. To secure funding for a new bridge, it’s imperative to keep all options on the table, as the bridge falls short of qualifying for state funding.
 
Next, we heard from Brian Clark who is the Executive Director of NC State Ports Authority. Brian shared a wealth of knowledge about our port. In 2022, the Port of Wilmington was ranked the #1 most productive port in North America – yes, you read that correctly! After Brian’s presentation wrapped, we loaded the bus and headed to the port for an exclusive tour with Brian. Truly a rare and special occasion, as you typically must have security clearance to access the port. We were able to see firsthand the many improvements made over the past five years, including a new container gate complex, container yard expansion, turning basin expansion and harbor deepening, and berth renovation and expansion. The sheer scale of the ships and the containers was mind-boggling.
 
After returning to the Chamber, Thom Moton, Wilmington’s Deputy City Manager, was up next. Thom gave an overview of the city’s capital improvement program and shared many of the preservation and maintenance categories that the city is responsible for.  Some examples include sidewalk and street rehab, brick rehab, and pedestrian and bike improvements. As is the case in most cities, there is more to take care of than there are resources. So it’s up to Thom and his team to prioritize projects.
 
Then Mark Hair arrived. He’s the Executive Director of Wave, our city’s bus, trolley and shuttle transportation provider. Mark shared some nice wins, including increased ridership levels and the new Ride Micro service which is an on-demand, flexible shuttle service serving areas outside of the typical bus routes.
 
We enjoyed a delicious lunch and switched gears for Work on Wilmington report-outs before loading up and heading out to the airport. Once we arrived, we met Jeffrey Bourk, who’s the Executive Director and Granseur Dick, the Facilities Director. Jeffrey shared some exciting updates happening at ILM, including the completion of a new parking lot and plans to improve the curb flow for easier ingress and egress. Granseur then led us all on a fascinating tour of ILM’s underbelly. We saw how checked baggage is processed and the new operations room. The logistics involved in running an airport is astonishing – kudos to the many hard-working folks at ILM.
 
As we neared the end of the day, I had to head home and relieve my husband who had been on childcare duty. Major storms were brewing and schools were either cancelled or released early. Most of our class went back to the Chamber for our final session with Kenneth Waldroup, Executive Director and Tristin Rickabaugh of CFPUA. Unfortunately, our tour of the Northside wastewater treatment facility was canceled because of the rain and threat of storms, but we were able to pivot and have them come down to the Chamber. 
 
The day concluded with a tornado warning but luckily our city was spared any significant damage from high winds and tornados. Laura mentioned how ironic it was that a large storm was rolling in on the day we covered Wilmington’s infrastructure. The folks running these critical systems did not get the day off or get to leave work early – they were focused on keeping things operational to serve our wonderful city.