NCDOT opens emergency route onto Hatteras Island

By Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer
The Virginian-Pilot
© November 15, 2009

Drivers with four-wheel drive vehicles will be able to access Hatteras Island through an emergency one-lane travel route to be opened today that will take them across the beach the North Carolina Department of Transportation announced this morning.

The route – to be used for essential travel only – will be opened at 11 a.m. in the Mirlo Beach area of Rodanthe, and will be available only for four wheel drive vehicles. Travel will be one lane only, the NCDOT warned, so drivers should be prepared to wait to move forward until oncoming traffic has cleared.

N.C. 12 – the only highway on the island – was closed late Thursday, and officials said Saturday that nearly 800 feet of pavement on the highway washed out during the storm.

The NCDOT Ferry Division began running the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry route for emergency transportation Saturday.

The one-lane travel route will be available daily until regular road service is restored; however, travel will only be permitted during daylight hours, beginning one hour after sunrise and ending one hour before sunset.

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