A Brighter Future at the End of the Road 



hub were enough to put Wilmington in 

 the same league as Charlotte, the Triad 

 or the Triangle. 



It still needed a four-lane highway 

 to tie the port city to the rest of state. 



Finally, in 1984 the U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Transportation approved plans 

 to extend Interstate 40 from Johnston 

 County to Wilmington, some say with 

 assistance from North Carolinian and 

 then-Secretary of Transportation 

 Elizabeth Dole. 



Wilmington waited. 



Some businesses, such as hotels 

 and retail shops, were so sure 1-40 was 

 the golden egg Wilmington needed that 

 they built ahead of the highway's 

 completion. 



College Road, the planned termi- 

 nus for 1-40, developed into a shopper's 

 paradise as several sprawling retail 

 centers were built side by side. Hotel 

 chains and fast food restaurants 

 jockeyed for position along the main 

 thoroughfares of College Road, Market 

 Street and Oleander Drive. 



To entice high-salaried profession- 

 als and rich retirees who might move to 

 the river city, the late J.P. Goforth 

 began development of a 2,200-acre 

 exclusive residential haven. 



Named Landfall, the development 

 sports two golf courses and one tennis 

 complex, all designed by big-name 

 pros. Lots, most less than an acre, 

 average more than $200,000; homes 

 built on them cost $400,000 or more. 



As the outskirts of Wilmington 

 developed, downtown spruced up too. 

 Using federal, state and local money, 

 the city of Wilmington built a riverfront 

 park about one block from the heart of 

 downtown. 



Private investors renovated 

 Chandler's Wharf and The Cotton 

 Exchange. Low-interest federal loans 

 were offered to other downtown 

 businesses for facade improvements. 

 And the city laid brick streets, hung 



special lights, planted trees and put a 

 few police on horseback all for the 

 benefit of tourists. 



Wilmington was ready. 



On June 30, 1990, 1-40 was 

 opened, completing the connection 

 between Raleigh and Wilmington. The 

 four-lane, limited-entry highway 

 opened the artery that connected 

 Wilmington to the rest of North 

 Carolina and the nation, and it began 

 slowly to pump economic adrenaline 

 into the city by the sea. 



If Wilmington's business leaders 

 expected an overnight boom town, it 

 was not to be. 



"1-40 didn't open at the most 

 auspicious of times," says David 

 Hartgen, a professor of transportation at 

 the University of North Carolina at 

 Charlotte. Hartgen has been authorized 

 by the state to complete an economic 

 impact study of I-40's final link. 



The Persian Gulf deployment 

 began a month later and the economy 

 was sluggish, Hartgen says. As a result, 

 people weren't traveling, vacationing or 

 buying new homes last year, and 1-40 

 failed to be the immediate economic 



shot in the arm everybody anticipated. 



But that doesn't mean 1-40 will not 

 pay off. 



"1-40 should have a steady, but 

 significant effect on Wilmington's 

 growth," Hartgen says. "The opening 

 was a watershed event similar to the 

 coming of the railroad. It should be the 

 most significant event on the local 

 economy for 50 years either side." 



"Now people are going to realize 

 there are two Wilmingtons on the East 

 Coast," says economist William Hall, 

 referring to Wilmington, Del. 



Hall and a colleague at the 

 University of North Carolina at 

 Wilmington, Claude Ferrel, have been 

 keeping a finger on the economic pulse 

 of Wilmington for the past ten years. 



They project that the area's 

 economy will double in the next ten 

 years. Augustine says the Wilmington 

 Chamber of Commerce forsees similar 

 growth. 



"We expect the next big explosion 

 of growth in North Carolina to come in 

 Wilmington," Augustine says. 



And it's already starting. 



A new regional international 

 airport located on the north side of the 

 city has just opened. Its completion 

 means Wilmington has all the right 

 connections — air, sea and land. 



The airport has U.S. Customs and 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture inspec- 

 tion and international landing rights, 

 which is prompting a growing stream 

 of foreign traffic. 



"Our international anivals have 

 increased 30 percent over last year," 

 says Robert Kemp, airport director. 



The first big international charter 

 began in May, flying between 

 Wilmington and Jamaica. The New 

 Hanover airport lies directly beneath 

 one of the main air routes to the 

 Caribbean, which may assure more 

 tropical flights in the future. 



The airport also does a brisk 



continued 



