Trump administration approves Biden-era grant for key eastern NC bridge
.jpg "Workers drive piles into the floor of the Alligator River to support a new bridge to carry U.S. 64 between Dare and Tyrrell counties in Eastern North Carolina. Construction of the new bridge began in early 2025 and is expected to take four years.")
The Trump administration has approved a Biden-era federal grant to help North Carolina build a new bridge connecting the Outer Banks with the rest of the state.
The $110 million in federal money will help the N.C. Department of Transportation build a new 3.2-mile bridge across the Alligator River, replacing an existing one that’s more than 60 years old and out of date.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced the grant in January 2023, using money from the bipartisan infrastructure bill approved by Congress in late 2021. Two months later, then Gov. Roy Cooper and Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt stood on a dock along the river to celebrate federal support for the bridge, which is expected to cost about $450 million.
But NCDOT and the federal government had not signed an agreement for the grant by the time the Trump administration took office this winter. The new USDOT said it would review all outstanding Biden-era grants, including Alligator River, raising questions about whether they would ultimately be approved.
On Tuesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that USDOT had cleared another 529 grants, worth more than $2.9 billion, including $1.8 million to develop a plan to protect N.C. 12 from ocean flooding in Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Part of the Alligator River bridge grant will be used to help install broadband along U.S. 64 from Interstate 95 in Rocky Mount to N.C. 12 on the Outer Banks.
“While cynics in the press hysterically warned of doomsday delays, USDOT has been hard at work to get America building again,” Duffy said in a written statement.
Trump administration removes DEI language from grants
Duffy said the Biden administration had left a backlog of some 3,200 projects with announced grants but no formal agreements. He said the Trump administration has now approved more than a third of those projects.
As it does, it edits the agreements to remove references to how each project affects issues such as climate change, energy efficiency and environmental justice. It also says it strikes “discriminatory DEI language,” referring to “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies that have been a target of the Trump administration.
“We’ve done this by refocusing the department on core infrastructure — not enacting a radical political agenda,” Duffy said in the statement. “With a third of the last administration’s unprecedented backlog cleared, we will continue to rip out red tape roadblocks to get dirt moving.”
What to know about new Alligator River bridge
NCDOT was confident the federal government would ultimately approve the Alligator River bridge grant, to the point that it allowed contractors to begin driving concrete piles for the span in February. The new bridge is expected to open in the fall of 2029, and demolition of the existing one, known as the Lindsay C. Warren Bridge, will start the following spring.
The two-lane bridge carries U.S. 64 between Tyrrell and Dare counties and is a vital link between the Outer Banks and the rest of North Carolina.
The new bridge will also have two lanes, but will be wider, with shoulders and higher guardrails. It will also include 65 feet of clearance over the navigation channel, eliminating the swing-span that now brings traffic to a halt when it opens to let boats pass or occasionally breaks down.
Fate of other federal grants for NC still unclear
The Alligator River grant was one of two dozen Biden-era projects in North Carolina under review by the Trump administration.
Others include $242 million to help replace the aging Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in Wilmington and $13.2 million to help Wake Forest build a downtown train station.
The largest, at nearly $1.1 billion, would help build the first leg of a high-speed passenger rail line between Raleigh and Richmond, Virginia. Gov. Josh Stein and state Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins asked Duffy about the status of that grant when Duffy visited Western North Carolina on Feb. 10, calling it a top priority for the state.
NCDOT officials say they have not heard anything from the Trump administration to suggest the rail grant will not ultimately be approved.
This story was originally published June 11, 2025 at 9:32 AM.
