WINNABOW, N.C. (WECT) – Travelers from Leland to Southport and vice versa will need to plan for months of detours.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation will close a part of Highway 133 (River Road) near Winnabow at the end of October, disrupting a main thoroughfare for drivers in Brunswick County. The closure is expected to last until August.

“I view this as a smaller version for Brunswick County of what we saw with the Cape Fear Bridge being closed,” Brunswick County Commissioner Frank Williams said. “It’s a project that needs to happen, but it’s going to require people to tune in and be patient and plan ahead.”

The road will be closed for about a half mile near the intersection of Funston Road so crews can construct a bridge in that area to help with persistent flooding issues. With the bridge, the road will be raised about five feet higher than it currently sits.

Williams said it’s a project that will be well worth it in the long run, but drivers should expect some traffic headaches in the short term.

“That’s going to be present challenges for those people who use it on a daily basis to go from Leland area down to Southport and back,” Williams said.

Steven White manages Olde Fort Golf Club, about two miles north of where the road closure will be. He said he’s especially nervous about the impact the road closure will have in the summer months.

“The summer time is going to be the key from Memorial Day to Labor Day,” White said. “We get quite a bit of tourist traffic. I don’t know where all that traffic is going to go.”

At the same time, he says he’s hopeful, especially after crews completed the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Project ahead of schedule.

“I hope they get the same crews that did the bridge because they finished early,” White said.

Contractors will also be incentivized to finish the project before the deadline in August. Incentive payment is $5,000 per day completed early, up to $375,000 for completion on or before May 18, 2025. A disincentive will be $5,000 daily beyond the completion date of Aug. 1, 2025.

Williams says there are things people can start doing now to prepare for the closure at the end of October:

• Start exploring alternate routes
• If you’re an employer, look at staggering schedules so all of your employees aren’t trying to get through the traffic at once
• Sign up for Brunswick County’s newsletter to get project updates
• Be patient with crews and construction workers as the project starts to get underway

Williams also expects the closure will affect a wide variety of stakeholders, which is why he’s requested a meeting with all of them to discuss what they can do now to prepare for the change.

“It could impact school bus routes and and schools and Emergency Management and EMS all need to be able to plan around it,” Williams said. “So we’ve got to get all those players in a room and figure out what the best way to deal with this.”

That stakeholder meeting will be the next step in preparing for what is sure to be a big change in Brunswick County traffic.

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