As a cub scout in 1963, Tommy Everett walked across the Alligator River Bridge in North Carolina’s Tyrrell County the day it was dedicated. He then rode the last ferry back across the river, along with then-Governor James Terry Sanford.

More than six decades later, that bridge is getting the facelift it has desperately needed as the state utilizes a $111 million federal grant, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to create a safer, more reliable connection point across the vital intercoastal waterway. As a county commissioner, Everett had a small role in the process. 

“The bridge has outlived its usefulness,” Everett said of the roadway that became the final section of U.S. 64, connecting California to North Carolina’s coast. “The beautiful thing of this bridge project is everybody came together and said ‘We have a problem and let’s see how we fix it.’”

By everybody, Everett means county commissioners, U.S. senators, the governor, staff members from multiple counties and state agencies, including consequential work done by district engineer Sterling Baker, and the federal government — most notably, across party lines. It is that cooperative spirit, Everett said, that pulled the project together after years of pleading. 

“This is life-changing,” he said. “I’m so tickled about it because I had a little something to do with it. Just a little something.”

The 3.5-mile Alligator River Bridge, also known as the Lindsay Warren Bridge, connects the rural and sparsely-populated Tyrrell County to the bustling, tourist haven of Dare County. For those living in Tyrrell County, the bridge provides access to schools, work, and healthcare. For those living in the Outer Banks, it’s one of three access points to the mainland. 

Despite how important the bridge is, it has become unreliable and even dangerous. There have been times that it won’t close after opening to let vessels pass underneath. Everett’s daughter uses the bridge daily to commute to work, and he worries every day that she’ll get stuck on it. Everett himself was stuck on it once while accompanying a family friend to the emergency room. 

“It was a bridge that was dangerous, and holding back economic development,” Everett said. “We all joined forces and put partisanship away and started talking about how this is something everyone needs.”

The project is already underway. And since Baker did not survive to see the project come to fruition, Everett hopes the new bridge could have his name.

“It was his last work,” he said.

The new bridge will be significantly taller, and won’t need to open, which will provide a foundation for cables to be run that will improve internet and telecommunications for Tyrrell County. It will also include a bike path and shoulders large enough for vehicles to pull to the side if they need to. 

As a rural county that runs on an $8 million annual budget supported by a property tax base that accounts for just about half of its budget, finding ways to fund large infrastructure projects can be tricky. Grant money has been instrumental, Everett said, in creating opportunities for infrastructure improvements.

Beyond the Alligator River Bridge project, the county also received $5 million in federal funding to support the installation of a sewer system, $2.45 million to construct a water tower in the southern part of the county, and $1.4 million to rebuild a river boardwalk in Columbia, the county seat that is home to fewer than 1,000 people. 

“When you leave the town of Columbia, you don’t see many people. We’re talking about a two-lane road through farmland and wetlands. These communities are isolated and we’re trying to improve their quality of life” Everett said, of the water and sewer projects. “With these federal programs, we’re able to do things that improve the lives of people of Tyrrell County and perpetuate improved development, yet the cost is absorbed by the federal government. That’s life changing.”

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, commonly called the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL),” was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden on November 15, 2021. BIL contains tens of billions in federal funding for rural infrastructure, disaster assistance, high-speed internet, and more.