The eternal Bonner Bridge study

We used to speculate on the possible permutations of environmental studies: the preliminary draft environmental impact statement; the draft environmental impact statement; the supplemental draft environmental impact statement; the preliminary final environmental impact statement; the OK-just-one-more preliminary final environmental impact statement.

At some point, you actually get to a final environmental impact statement. And you’d think that would be the end of it. For most people, the word final, like death, is pretty definite.

But in the case of a replacement for the aging Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet — a span that is considered structurally deficient — we may be in for a supplemental final environmental impact statement. It’s also known as an SFEIS, in case you are in a conversation and want to leave the impression that you understand why this would be necessary.

It’s no wonder Dare County Commissioner Allen Burrus grew louder and more passionate as he spoke at yet another hearing last week on the bridge, this time on an environmental assessment ordered to identify changes in the state’s preferred plan since it was outlined in the final environmental impact statement almost two years ago.

This has been going on, at least one speaker pointed out, since 1993, when the old Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, the only land link to Hatteras Island, reached the end of its 30-year life expectancy.

Burrus, who represents Hatteras Island, said you couldn’t Google a bridge that has been studied so much.

“It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.

When the comment period for the new environmental assessment is over, state and federal officials will huddle and decide if the changes warrant a supplemental final environmental impact statement.

That would probably take another year, a highway department official says. Then there may (or may not be) a record of decision, after which another six months or so will pass before bids are awarded for bridge construction, estimated to cost in the neighborhood of $300 million.

The state has the money now, but who knows what the cost will be when all is said and done? The possibility seems very real that we will be at an even 20 years before the first pile is driven.

The NCDOT is not the bad guy here. There’s a whole raft of state and federal agencies involved, mainly because the project is proximate to a national refuge, a national park, the ocean and a sound.

If the government doesn’t follow the letter of the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires thorough study, it creates targets for a legal challenge.

And it’s a good bet that environmental lawyers are going over the various permutations of threats, remote or real, that the project poses.

At the hearing, several public officials expressed their now familiar dismay at the length of time the project has taken.

But Ken Sharp Jr. of Manteo, a regular citizen, probably wrapped things up best as he called on environmental groups and government agencies to come to their senses and find a middle ground:

“Just build me a bridge, please.”

This column originally appeared in The Virginian-Pilot.

Related: Irene Nolan reports in her blog the the U.S. Department of the Interior is looking unfavorably on the environmental assessment.
full story in the Island Free Press »

North Carolina Department of Transportation photo.

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