Built for $36 million under contract to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the bridge opened for traffic in the fall of 2010.

Upon completion of the ICW in the late 1930s, a swingbridge initially provided access from the mainland to Oak Island.

As Oak Island’s population grew however, the large volume of summer vacation traffic and hurricane evacuation concerns prompted the state to approve building a second bridge on the west end of the island over Swain’s Cut.

The 980-foot-long (300 m), 80-foot-wide (24 m) deck structure, consists of prestressed concrete girders which carry four traffic lanes across the ICW at 65’ above Mean High Water.

[2] The bridge has for the most part been accident free with the notable exception of a construction related incident in December 2008 when a concrete girder placed on a pier dislodged before it was property secured, fell to the ground and killed one worker.