Back from the beach in Ocracoke

Plenty of hand-wringing went into the planning and orchestration of what is believed to have been the state's first official detour along the beach, but now Ocracoke Island can testify to the virtue of biting the bullet.

The $8 million bridge replacement project was completed 10 days ahead of schedule and with little drama. At 5 p.m. Wednesday, the three-mile stretch of N.C. 12 that had been blocked since Jan. 2 was officially reopened.

But when Hyde County Emergency Management Director Tony

Spencer arrived at that time, he was thwarted from any ceremonial passage.

"We got there at 5 o'clock and it was already opened," he said.

After consultations with local officials, the state Department of Transportation had decided it was more practical and cost-effective to close the road for 10 weeks so the island's seven bridges could be replaced at one time. The alternative was to close one lane for up to 18 months.

What made the closure workable is that everyone also agreed that traffic could be diverted to the beach at access points by the pony pens and the campground.

Representatives of Hyde and Dare counties, the park service, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, the Ocracoke Civic and Business Association, the state Ferry Division, emergency and medical services, the Coast Guard and the community met regularly with the DOT to hammer out the details.

If there had not been a problem getting supplies, Orangeburg, S.C.-based contractor Carolina Bridge Co. would have finished even earlier, Spencer said.

"I think the key to that was all the planning that went into it, and the involvement of the agencies and all the partners," he said. "Everybody just worked together."

Contingencies for bad weather, vehicles without four-wheel drive, elderly or sick folks, school events, ambulances and vehicles stuck on the beach were thought out ahead of time. The park service agreed to deliver mail and prescriptions. Special ferries were assigned for waste disposal and heavy-equipment trucks.

Spencer said that emergency medical services made eight trips on the detour, and there were five helicopter evacuations for medical emergencies.

Overall, he said, things went smoothly.

"The people that complained ahead of time was all the complaining that I heard," he said. "I did not hear any complaining during the event."

Stationed at the beach nearly every day, Jarvis Williams, an owner of Cape Point Exxon in Buxton, said Wednesday morning that he had by then towed 217 vehicles and trailered another 150.

Over the months, Williams said he has seen sightseers, beachcombers, college students on winter break, fishermen unknowingly surf-fishing in the path of traffic and even a motorcycle that needed rescuing.

Initially, vehicles were getting flat tires from hitting part of a shipwreck that was barely sticking out of the sand. After four flats, Williams found the spot and covered it with a crab pot. But the pot was gone in a few weeks, and Williams said he later figured out who removed it.

"He was a good Samaritan cleaning up the beach," he said. A traffic cone soon replaced the missing crab pot.

Williams said that his busiest day was Sunday, when eight vehicles were pulled out of the sand, and eight others were loaded onto his trailer, equipped with wide tires, and carried around.

One day, he said, he was driving his truck with the trailer and came upon a stuck truck that was pulling a trailer. So he hooked up his rope and pulled it.

"We had a little train going," he said.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com