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Dredge fill, bridges among N.C. 12 options
N.C. 12 at Mirlo Beach. (Don Bowers, Island Free Press)
Two inlets and several smaller breaches were cut by Hurricane Irene over the weekend, isolating Hatteras Island and about 2,300 people who stayed behind.
State Sen. Stan White, D-Dare, said Tuesday that one approach would be to contract with Great Lakes Dock and Dredge to begin filling in the breaches.
The company already has two dredges working off the Nags Head shoreline pumping sand for the town’s $36 million beach nourishment project. Great Lakes filled in the inlet formed north of Hatteras Village by Hurricane Isabel in 2003.
“The fill alternative certainly is going to be a lot less expensive and a lot quicker,” he said after a press conference in Manteo with state and federal officials.
Under ideal circumstances, pumping in sand could take as little as a week to 10 days and laying asphalt another week to 10 days, he said.
White, a former member of the state Board of Transportation, said the Department of Transportation has emergency funds, but moving ahead with any repairs will involve several state and federal agencies.
Breach in Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. (Tom MacKenzie, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
A lot will depend on the position of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. The biggest breach is in the middle of the refuge. The fish and wildlife service had been resistant to the Bonner Bridge replacement project, which calls for dealing with such problems spots on N.C. 12 after the new span is built.
White said he could not speculate on how long permitting would take.
“But I can tell you that Fish and Wildlife is just not easy to deal with,” he said. “And we think if Fish and Wildlife were not in the picture, I’d be real optimistic that we could get something done in a shorter period of time.”
Dennis Stewart, a refuge biologist, offered assurances earlier this week that the Pea Island management was working with other agencies and utilities to restore infrastructure.
Jim Trogdon, NCDOT chief operating officer, said in an interview that unlike the project to fill Isabel Inlet, permitting could be expedited because studies and a decision to build have already been made on the Bonner Bridge replacement.
“At that time, we did not have a record of decision or an EIS in place,” he said. “In this instance, we’ve actually got more support for maintaining and improving N.C. 12 than we did in 2003.”
Environmental groups have filed a legal challenge to that decision, and Monday, they cited the damage from Hurricane Irene as evidence that the state should reconsider the alternative for a longer, 17.5-mile bridge bypassing the refuge.
“The state’s present scheme to replace Bonner Bridge at its current location and ignore the repeated, inevitable breaching south of the bridge is irresponsible,” Derb Carter, the director of the Carolinas Office of the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a statement.
“The state should put reliability and people’s safety first, build the safer, less-exposed ‘long bridge’ that bypasses the most rapidly eroding section of the island, and let the ocean take its inevitable course in the wildlife refuge.”
N.C. 12 is the only land access to Hatteras Island. Residents will be transported on ferries across an emergency route from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe or Hatteras Village after the response and recovery phase is completed, Trogdon said. The state will work closely with the county in establishing priority.
The division is now using four vessels that can carry 35 to 40 vehicles each. It’s a 2 ½ hour trip from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe, three hours to Hatteras. About 18,000 vehicles a day cross the Bonner Bridge.
Besides dredging and filling as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did after Isabel, options for repairing the road include short-term or long-term bridging .
The short-term spans, known as Mabey-Johnson bridges, are pre-fabricated steel truss structures used by the military and can be erected in a matter of days.
The analysis of the short-term options are being done as quickly as possible.
“We will have all those answers by Friday,” Trogdon said.
Secretary Napolitano pledged FEMA support. (Bob Muller)
Trogdon said that he sees the multiple breaches as two clusters, one site in Pea Island and one site at Mirlo Beach. The largest one in Pea Island appears to be roughly half the size of Isabel Inlet, which was 1,700 feet by the time it was filled.
The official DOT estimate of the Pea Island breach is 160 feet wide. The Mirlo breach is estimated at about 100 feet wide.
White joined other state and county officials at a press conference with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, U.S. Sen Kay Hagan, D-N.C. and Gov. Beverly Perdue.
Perdue said more than 1,100 homes were destroyed statewide and significant agricultural damage was done. She offered an early estimate of damages based on observations of $70 million, not including agriculture.
“So this has become an expensive hurricane for North Carolina,” she said.
Dare is one of seven counties seeking priority designation for federal disaster relief. Funds would come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which falls under homeland security.
Catherine Kozak contributed to this report.
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RonM says:
I’m wondering if it would be possible to set up a temporary ferry terminal at the Oregon Inlet docks to ferry to Rodanthe. I didn’t realize the ferry from Stumpy Point took so long. Clearly, ferries are not a good option for getting visitors to the island. I like the idea of the Mabey-Johnson bridge, followed by either filling in or using he Ocracoke-type bridges. A long term plan for making the worst parts of the road into an elevated causeway (not a full 17 mile project) would probably be cost effective in the long run, as the costs of constant road repairs and sand plowing would be reduced.
ekim says:
SOOOOO fish and wild life is so powerful they can stop america from going to rescue our kinfolk,They need to be stripped of that tax funded power NOW!
CLT says:
If it left to human, there will be no wildlife left in this earth, so is human.
HatterasNative says:
It is a sad state of affairs it our Great Country when a single government agency in collusion with special interest groups can have so much power as to undermine the needs of the people. I appreciate all that is being done in the attempts being made to recover from this disaster. But folks enough is enough. Americans need to push aside the hate mongering and partisan politics that seems to have overtaken the will of the people in this NATION. Prayers to all who are victims and to those working so hard to resolve the pain and suffering.
Amy Lau says:
Sounds like we need to put the people of Rodanthe, and Hatteras on the endangered list. People have been here long before tourist. Let the people who live here year round make the decision.
hipocrisy says:
Stunningly hypocritical. People say they want government out of their lives, but they want government to rush in an rebuild their washed out roads to nowhere that are going to keep washing out more and more with each new storm. Why should the taxpayers keep paying for this nonsense? The residents of Hatteras don’t nearly pay their fair share for the government services that make their treasured way of life possible. They’re completely dependent on government help, and yet they all scorn the government. A little more respect for Uncle Sam (and mother nature) would seem to be in order.
Highway 12 is on borrowed time. The grim reaper is coming. Me — I wouldn’t even build the long bridge. Too much money. Get a ferry and learn to live like Ocracoke.
Truck says:
Interesting commentary. I’m sure the government would be to blame if the response and offers of assistance were non existent or inadequate – like Katrina. I hope we learned a lesson from that administration that “heck of a job Brownie” people aren’t what we need. Fortunately we now have what seem like competent people analyizing alternatives.
Harry says:
I have great feelings for the residents on Hatteras island.
However, do nothing Stan White should stop blaming the NPS and put the blame where it belongs. On the back of Mark Basnight and the Democratic party that has controlled the State legislature for many years.
Dave D. says:
Amy Lau,
Without the tourists it will be an extension of Portsmouth Is. And nothin’ but greenhead’s will be there. Letting the island go to the birds and turtles and mosquitos and greenhead flies that sounds like a good eco-nazi plan…yeah right.
Debbie Rivers says:
I just do not understand the reasoning behind “wildlife” verses peoples lives and their businesses. People need to get real. God provided enough wildlife on this earth endangered or not they have no soul. be done with it and worry about getting help to the PEOPLE who need it!
athena says:
I have many friends who are already at risk at losing their jobs on the Outerbanks because of the enivironmentalist who don’t even live there. They sit up on their towers and make the rules for honest hard working people.It breaks my heart they are tryiong to provide for their families just like the rest of us.How can someone look these peole in the eyes and say hey you don’t count.I feel the environmentalist are cowards spend a year in these hard working peoples shoes.
Mike says:
There is an alternate route on and off the island to the south via Cedar Island! Has Any one heard about how Tanger Island fared up in the Eastern Shore of VA?
Dave says:
Donor Dare County sends millions of tax dollars back to Raleigh. That money pays teacher’s salaries and helps run the state’s government. Wake up people and tell the SELC and their lawyers where to go. They tried to steal your beach, now they want your life. Fixing a road will not harm anything.
Sammy J says:
An elevated high speed train from Nags Head to Southport would be the best. Cut down on all the vehicles on the barrier islands.
Carol S. says:
I understand all views above. We’ve vacationed in Buxton for the last 40 years and are extremely fond of the folks who live there. This is their home – has been for many generations. As a nation, we need to stop vilifying the”other side”, whoever that may be, and pull together. Since when do we American citizens turn on each other, especially in times of disaster? Government is us, folks, not some nebulous entity. We are responsible for how it works (or doesn’t), and if you don’t vote, you shouldn’t be complaining – you’re part of the problem. This disaster impacts people we love, children, Moms, Dads, Grandparents; this isn’t some philosophical issue, it’s the lives of real people. The scale of the damage requires government assistance; it requires we join hands and support the families devastated by this storm. Get over your petty blame-games. These families will work out the details of how they rebuild their lives, their roads, their homes because it is their lives, not ours who don’t live there. It is support, given without strings attached, that is needed. If you can’t stand with the people of the Outer Banks without making it a personal agenda, stand down!
mike says:
I see gross negligence and incompetence from all involved including the governor , us fish and wildlife etc. I have 3 words for all invloved and there is a movement among the people right now. CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT.The grounds being gross negligence. That would perk up some ears.
Sailor says:
Build the low, Ocracoke style bridges over the known “hot spots” on Pea Island. This will be a longer term solution than just pumping sand, the sand washes away very quickly, and just makes the dredging companies rich.
http://villagecraftsmen.blogspot.com/2008/02/bridge-replacement-project.html
$8 million dollars is a reasonable cost for these bridges, build them now while the need is obvious, Hatteras Island can be fully open for business by next March, with temporary bridges in the meantime. Took six months to fabricate the Ocracoke bridges, then just 74 days to install them.
Winnie says:
It really has nothing to do with wildlife. It has to do to with the fact that Hatteras is a BARRIER island…meaning SHIFTING. In order for a barrier island to surive, it has to shift. You want your homes and your businesses and your money and you fight until your blue in the face but it is obvious that you are clueless about where we live. Instead of bashing politicians and what not, why don’t you google “barrier island”, read the definition and then comment on what the best decision is. Imagine if there was a bridge buit and we all lived usning the ferry like when did when that barge hit it and broke it back in the late 80′s early 90′s (can’t remember exactly when), and the next strom that comes through the water just rushes under the bridge instead of taking our only road with it…sounds like something I would like to see happen….
Sailor says:
October 26, 1990- Bonner Bridge broken by a dredge that washed into in a storm. Bridge was reopened on Feb. 12, 1991.
Took some people up to 42 hours waiting in line to get off the islands- first a wait for HI to Ocracoke, then a longer wait for Ocracoke to anywhere- no one cared where- just off the island!
No sense blaming random “environmentalists”, just realize as Winnie says that this is a constantly shifting barrier island, and build the road on elevated pilings (Ocracoke bridge style) so the sand and water can shift underneath without washing away the pavement each time.
Debbie says:
You can write to President Obama on this or any other issue via this address http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact. I just did so and the more people who write the better!!!!!
Mark Gardner says:
I’ve read every posting above and I have to wonder how many property and income tax dollars are generated by the rental homes and businesses that are on the Outer Banks?Then ad all the businesses that cater to the tourist on the Outer Banks? How about all the construction jobs and the Fishing and, well you get the picture.
Wildlife adapts to change and I don’t know what the endangered species list contains in the barrier islands but I can bet you most of the tree or “beach” huggers don’t ride bicycles or horses when they travel. I’d bet they mow their yards and heat their homes with irreplacable fossil fuels.I may even be right when I guess they use electric power in the home where they live generated by a coal burning plant. Anyone remember the coal slag pond that broke it’s banks and flooded an entire town this year? I don’t know an enviromentalist group that isn’t swapping some “impact” for their own convienence? So I think some animals may adapt to a brige after the construction. I doubt the construction would wipe out a whole species? There are many instances where man made structures create habitats. So Impact? It would cost as much as the bridge to research it?
I wished we could spend the money that was blown and squandered in Afghanistan, $60 billion would build alot of schools and bridges here at home! And what could we do with the trillions of dollars spent over there? God bless those who have lost loved ones and given the ultimate sacrifice and our children who will be paying for it during their lifetime.
Amy Lau says:
Dave D.,
You totally misunderstood what I said. It should not be up to the tree huggers or the state, or even the feds. It should be what the locals want. They (THE GOVERNMENT) needs to put the hungary people in front of the animals this time around. And fix thge road ASAP.
Rex Craigo says:
Wow, can none of you people spell correctly?
It sure appears not.
Balzac says:
Without huge cuts to y’all’s Social Security, SSI, VA Benefits, school funding programs and more, Congressman Eric Cantor, (R) VA, isn’t going to allow a single dollar of federal aide to any of y’all. Somebody voted him into office. I know it wasn’t you.
Happy Barracuda says:
Forget about the bridge to a sinking sandbar and forget about driving on eroding beaches.
There needs to be a ferry service to every village on Hatteras Island. This should of been in place a decade ago. But the powerful overlords and their friends who run the show have interests that require large amounts of tourists arriving at 65 mph.
Hurricane Irene will not be the last storm. Katia is on it’s way, and if the winds miss us, you can be sure the large swells will not. Then there is the fall and winter Nor’Easter season.
Anyone notice a pattern here?
cherie z says:
Folks – first my heart goes out to everyone who has been struggling to get along on Hatteras since the storm. You have faced unbelievable hardships. Second, I have spent a lot of my life around the Atlantic Ocean and it always wins. If it breaches low spots its currents have changed in that area and it will continue to find a way to breach it in the future. Plans should take this in to consideration so the future is not filled with more cost and frustration. THE OCEAN WILL ALWAYS WIN!!
Sailor says:
Temporary bridges can be built in four days, so keep a supply of these on hand for the inevitable breaches along NC12, and elevate the known “hot spots” on Ocracoke style bridges that are very cost effective and easy to install.
We have the technology to keep NC12 open, it is just a matter of having the will. Why spend $2billion per day to bomb Iraq and Af-Pak when we can use that money here in the USA? The cost of repairing NC12 is just a rounding error at the Pentagon,and all the talk of “keeping us safe” is just blather to keep the money flowing to Halliburton and other military contractors.
Build the highway and bridge now. This will provide much needed USA jobs and long term benefits to all who live on or travel to Hatteras Island.
Derek says:
RE Debbie writing to Obama. Do you really think he’s going to do anything? He’s more interested in his re-election and playing golf or taking one of his many vacations/trips.
I really do feel sorry for the Residents of Hatteras Island. They can only stand so many hardships. The economy there is so fragile as it already stands. I hope they make it…
Anyone for Plover on the BBQ?
NC4Freedom says:
I agree, the ocean will always win. It’s time we stopped wasting our tax dollars on a no-win proposition. If those who live in Hatteras and vacation there want a bridge, let them pay for it. That is what private sector capitalism so many worship is all about.
Sailor says:
Thank you President Barack Obama and Governor Beverly Perdue! The temporary 650 foot bridge over the “New” New Inlet and the sand pumping to close the other breaches is an excellent solution.
Looks like the government does work, despite all the efforts of the tea-bag army to tear it down.
Can’t wait to try out the new bridge, October will see Hatteras Island open for business! October is great for sailing and fishing, one of the best times of the year.
Lots of negative talk about the futility of repairing NC 12, but look at the price, $10 million is what the Pentagon spends in 7.2 minutes! That is every minute, every day of the year at their $2 billion per day rate ($730 billion per year). Of course that doesn’t even count the “off budget” expenses and the nuclear arms, etc.
Lucy says:
Let Mother Nature do her thing. Quit spending money foolishly. Forget about a new bridge and temp. bridges. Learn to ferry over to Hatteras now. Time to let it be!!!
Seecappy says:
So what is all comes down to when you read through all the postings is MONEY! Money for this, money for that, this will cost that, take the money from here, put the money over there, don’t use it here, use it over there blah,blah, blah, it’s all about the money!
Mother nature WILL ALWAYS WIN and it will always cost us a bundle of money to take care of it.
I certainly don’t have an answer to it. But it seems to me that after all the years of putting money to it the place still keeps being run over and destroyed (actually not destroyed, just relocated) by Mother Nature.
It’s all kinda like shoveling s++t against the wind. It definately comes back to hit you in the face.
The ancestral dwellers certainly knew it by not living permanently on the islands.
Time to cut our losses, pick up and move on and let it go the way of the Dodo bird and the mammoth, . Gone but not forgotten.
Let the Government buy us out, take the money and run. It would end up being cheaper in the long run and let Mother Nature have it back.
God bless us all!
Sailor says:
Lucy, How many times have you been to Hatteras? Do you know the people who count on tourism to support their jobs?
Highway construction is under way, so get over the whole ferry thing, each ferry carries 40 cars, no way that can support Hatteras Island tourism to match the current capacity.
Why are you against this good local project? Jobs in the USA instead of bombs in Afghanistan. The $10 million is money well spent.
WILDGI says:
THE BRIDGES CAN BE INSTALLED ALOT CHEAPER THAT EVERYONE KNOWS.THE LOCAL GOVERMENT CAN OBTAIN FLOATING CAUSEWAYS FROM THE MILITARY SURPLUS AND DRMO AT NO COST.THEY NEED TO WAKE UP AND UTILIZE THE RESORCES THAT ARE THERE FOR THEM.THE GOVT.ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING IS SPEND LOTS OF MONEY FOR INPROPER SOLUTIONS.WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!
Sailor says:
WILDGI- Are you having trouble with your CAPSLOCK key? It is the small key to the left of the “A”, just press it again and you can rejoin the land of lower case letters!
What would you rather have your federal government spend $10 million dollars on? 7.2 minutes of Pentagon spending?
This $10 million dollars for NC12 repair is money well spent.
Geoffrey Hoffman says:
As an architect with a civil engineering background, I’d propose a stepped series of measures to: 1) Slow down the speed of the current, then 2) Anchor a (to my mind) series of environmentally-benign structures to the bottom to get sand to build up, & finally 3)gradually install more structures to either eventually replicate what was washed-away or use the time spent in this literal “shoring up” to be fast-tracking the design of a suitable bridge or causeway.
The principle is the same (but larger-scaled) as when we go to the mountains, where stone wholesalers & retailers put their wares in an easily-transportable “wire basket” display. I would further strengthen this by elongating the basket, making it out of rebar or of the concrete construction-grade welded wire fabric, & drop them in chosen waterway locations where a close-by trackhoe dumps successively-higher lifts of stone to a predetermined point of stabilization. I would propose using our native-born cane grass – which we know as bamboo – “knitted” or “laced” into the WWF to further impede the current flow in a slow, but sure, manner that would be underground “fencing” linking each of these “posts.” An oversimplified analogy might be the way plugs of vegetation eventually encourage an overall reclamation of bare patches of ground.
This would be a way to immediately attack it, without expensive cofferdams, obstreperous bridge abutments, labor-intensive pilings, or long drawn-out design/construction sequences. This may also be agreeable to environmental interests, since 2/3rds of this is native vegetation & locally-quarried stone. My small-scale projects using this principle have proven the viability of the construct, so I’d volunteer exploring its present-&-future viability up here with Duke or NC State to whomever would consider it….
skiffguide says:
Please note that the “ocracoke style” bridges are passing over very stable soundside creeks, not dynamic oceanside overwashes. Even small bridges cost a fortune. If you build them over so-called “hot spots” on the oceanside of Hatteras Island, you can count on building more and more. Only God knows where the next “hot spot” will be. You can bet your sweet scallops there is a “core” group of Hatteras Islanders who could care less whether there’s a bridge built to their island or not. They’re the ones whose families didn’t even know there was a Great Depression going on in the 30′s because they knew how to fish, and clam,and crab and plant gardens. No doubt it would be a different island with no bridges, maybe even better.
John says:
Sailor how can you thank Obama as he did nothing to make this happen. More Misinformation…
Greg says:
Amy Lou, I guess I could spend thousands of vacation dollars in another state…….Tourist