The first work on Belmont's new river crossing isn't happening over the water. In September, crews started clearing land on the Gaston County side along NC-7, the stretch of Catawba Street between downtown and Wilkinson Boulevard. Queen City News reported it in early October. The bridge they're replacing is the Sloan's Ferry Bridge on US-29/74. It was built in 1933 and dedicated as a memorial to the people who served in World War I.
For anyone living in Belmont, this is a Catawba Street project first. It rebuilds the intersections Belmont drivers use every day. When it's finished, it links a downtown street, a city park, and a river crossing for people on foot. Here's what that looks like from the Belmont side, and roughly in the order you'll run into it.
The Work Is on Belmont's Side of the River
The North Carolina Department of Transportation runs this as two linked projects. B-6051 is the bridge. U-6143 rebuilds the Catawba Street intersection with Wilkinson Boulevard. Zachry Construction Corporation of San Antonio won the combined contract with a bid of $78,019,774.80, submitted May 19, 2026. NCDOT sent the award notice on June 1.
The NCDOT announcement from October 8 lists the work beyond the bridge. It includes a new design for the US-29/74 and NC-7 intersection and improvements where NC-7 meets Hazeline Avenue and Moores Chapel Loop. All of those points are on Belmont's end of the crossing. That's why the closures NCDOT has announced so far fall mostly on local streets, while the highway sees fewer.
| Location | What NCDOT has said to expect |
|---|---|
| Wilkinson Boulevard bridge | Existing bridge stays open the whole time; some nighttime lane closures when needed |
| NC-7 / Catawba Street | Daytime lane closures, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Hazeline Avenue | Daytime lane closures, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| NC-7 at Moores Chapel Loop | Intersection improvements; no separate closure window announced |
With a 9-to-4 window, the trips most likely to run into these closures are midday ones, like lunch runs and errands between downtown and the Wilkinson corridor.
Queen City News reported that NCDOT hadn't announced an updated project timeline. For a specific day's closures, check DriveNC.gov, which NCDOT names as the place for real-time travel information. The NCDOT project page still shows a construction start of June 2024. That date is out of date, since work began this fall.
Why the Catawba Street Intersection Is Getting Rebuilt
According to the project page, the trouble at Catawba Street and Wilkinson Boulevard runs in two directions. In the morning, traffic backs up from northbound Catawba Street onto eastbound Wilkinson. In the afternoon, it backs up on westbound Wilkinson as drivers wait to turn onto southbound Catawba. The intersection backs up in both directions, depending on the time of day.
NCDOT's answer is a reduced-conflict intersection. Its explainer on the design describes how it usually works for a driver coming off the side road:
- Turn right onto the main road, with no direct left from the side street.
- Move into a dedicated U-turn lane, typically less than 1,000 feet down the road.
- Make the U-turn to head the other way, or to complete a crossing of the highway.
That's how the design generally works. Exactly which movements change at this particular corner depends on NCDOT's plans for this site. The project page describes this design as "better suited to handle the volume of traffic moving through the intersection."
What the Bridge Itself Becomes
Over the water, the main fix is lanes. Wilkinson Boulevard is six lanes wide on the Gaston side and five on the Mecklenburg side. NCDOT says that mismatch causes a bottleneck at times, especially when I-85 traffic gets detoured onto US-74 during emergencies. The new bridge goes from four lanes to six, three in each direction.
The rest of the design is about the people who'll use the bridge without a car, along with a few details that will change how it looks:
- 10-foot multiuse paths on both sides of the bridge
- A pair of overlooks at the top of the bridge, reached from the paths on each side
- A deck raised at the middle to give boats more room underneath
- A decorative rail, light posts, and supports stained beige with a stamped brick pattern in three colors
- The World War I memorial plaque, carried over into the new design
- Medians left open on the Belmont side where there's room, so the City can design and plant its own landscaping after the roadwork is done
That last item puts part of the finished project back in local hands. When the contractor leaves, what the Belmont end of Wilkinson Boulevard looks like will depend partly on what the City plants.
Where the New Paths Lead
The paths matter because of what they connect. According to the project page, the paths along Wilkinson Boulevard are planned to link Gaston College with Kevin Loftin Riverfront Park and the ISWA Nature Preserve. On Catawba Street, paths on both sides are planned to run from Wilkinson Boulevard to the Kevin Loftin Park entrance on the east side and to a City of Belmont greenway proposal on the west side.
Kevin Loftin Riverfront Park is the city park at 1400 E. Catawba Street. Go Gaston lists river access for canoes, kayaks, and boats, plus fishing, walking trails, a playground, and picnic space. Belmont's FY 2026–27 budget sets aside $20,000 to renovate the park's fishing pier and lists another Kevin Loftin improvement with the amount still to be determined.
The NCDOT page doesn't name the greenway on the west side. The best match is Abbey Creek Greenway, the flagship project in Belmont's greenway master plan. The City's engineering consultant, ESP Associates, describes it as a 1.2-mile, 10-foot-wide paved path with a boardwalk, a bridge, trailheads, and pocket parks. ESP says it connects downtown, Kevin Loftin Riverfront Park, and the city's municipal and recreation complex, and lists it as in progress. The same city budget lists Abbey Creek Greenway at $3.7 million, funded through grants and cash.
Put those plans together and you get a 10-foot path running from downtown toward Kevin Loftin Park, meeting new paths on Catawba Street, and continuing across a bridge with overlooks above the river. Each piece is on its own schedule. The bridge contract runs to late summer 2032. The greenway's opening date hasn't been announced.
A Crossing With a Long Record of Starting Over
This is at least the fourth bridge at Sloan's Ferry. The first, built in 1911, replaced the ferry that carried people across the Catawba. The Great Flood of 1916 destroyed it. A replacement opened in 1920 and served until the current bridge was built in 1933. The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources notes that the 1916 flood took out every highway bridge across the Catawba.
The 1933 bridge has lasted longer than the two before it combined. This replacement has been slow too. NCDOT first planned to start construction in June 2024, and work began in September 2026. Treat the 2032 finish as the contract's target rather than a promise. Between now and then, expect daytime lane closures on Catawba Street and Hazeline Avenue, plus a new turning pattern at Wilkinson. When the work is done, the bridge will have paths and overlooks, and the World War I plaque will still be on it.
If you're weighing a move on either side of the Catawba and want to know how a project like this fits your daily drive, Sierra Garren Group is glad to talk through it with you. We work on both sides of this river, and we'll help you think through closures, commute routes, and timing. Let's Connect.
