Wilmington City Council takes steps towards railroad realignment

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - On Tuesday, city council members approved $2.5 million in grant money to go to an engineering group to study how the city could be getting more use from the railroad system already in place.

“We have a lot of traffic that’s coming out of the port of Wilmington,” said Mayor Bill Saffo. “Majority of that traffic is being moved out by truck. It would be nice if more of that traffic was moved out by rail, a lot more of that cargo was moved out by rail, obviously they could move more cargo by doing it that way, obviously the port is growing, the city is growing and it would be nice if we could do that as opposed to taking all of the cargo through the middle of the city.”

From the study, the city expects to see possible impact of the changes on the economic and environmental fronts. With the lifespan of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge coming to an end there have also been thoughts of trying to incorporate the railroad system with a replacement of the bridge.

An engineering group is expected to start their study of the city by March or April.

Copyright 2020 WECT. All rights reserved.