A 69-year-old bridge that has become obsolete and requires increasing maintenance on the Wayne-Duplin County line will be replaced.

Bennetts Bridge Road where it spans the Northeast Cape Fear River will not close to traffic when work begins next month; a temporary bridge will be erected alongside the one to be demolished. Drivers should slow down and travel through the work zone cautiously.

Because of federally imposed restrictions on construction in the river due to aquatic life, the project will take longer than normal to complete. The bridge is scheduled to open by the fall of 2022.

The low bidder was S.T. Wooten Corp. of Wilson, which received the $2.6 million contract from the N.C. Department of Transportation last month.