Since 1972, Wilmington has proposed widening and extending Independence Boulevard in the project area to better connect major east-west routes and to accommodate increasing traffic.
- College Avenue is the only major north-south roadway that connects the main east-west routes in Wilmington, but the volume of traffic on is already challenged and the highway can't easily be widened because of development along the roadway.
- Kerr Avenue is another north-south roadway in the area that NCDOT has proposed widening, but the proposed improvements do not provide the length of continuous north-south connectivity that is provided by College Avenue. Kerr Avenue is being widened from two to four lanes and would involve adding a new interchange at Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and a "quadrant" style intersection with Market Street.
Even with the proposed improvements to Kerr Avenue, traffic projections indicate there is still a need for additional north-south connectivity and a road that can carry large volumes of traffic.
Extending Independence Boulevard as an additional north-south road would provide more capacity to handle increasing traffic.
Public Meeting Held
The N.C. Department of Transportation held public meetings for the project in Wilmington on June 13, 2011, Oct. 8, 2012 and Feb. 26, 2022.