Outer Banks residents hear options to repair N.C. 12

HATTERAS ISLAND, N.C.

Dozens gathered Tuesday inside a community center that just three months ago offered hot meals to islanders cut off from the world when Hurricane Irene severed Hatteras and split its only highway into pieces.

A new, temporary bridge reconnected the island on Oct. 10.

Long-term options for repairing the highway, announced this week on the North Carolina Department of Transportation website, were explained in further detail Tuesday evening inside the Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Community Center.

Two plans call for a permanent bridge on N.C. 12 at the so-called Pea Island breach: a taller, longer bridge where the temporary one now stands, or a bridge just to the west of it. Two plans call for no bridge at all. The first would patch together the island with sand, widen the beach and build up the dunes. The second would also patch the island but move N.C. 12 to the west.

Four more options are up for consideration a few miles south in Rodanthe, where N.C. 12 crumbled in places. Two include a bridge on the present highway. One calls for a longer bridge that would bow over the Pamlico Sound. And one recommends no bridge at all, just widening of the beach and the building up of dunes.

Two Dare County commissioners at Tuesday's meeting said they weren't ready to reveal which plans they favor. Warren Judge, chairman of the board, and Allen Burrus, a Hatteras native, instead said they would advocate for the most feasible permanent solution.

Hundreds were stranded when Hurricane Irene sliced through the island in August. It took days to establish an emergency ferry route, which ran around the clock from Rodanthe to Stumpy Point on the Dare County mainland until the new bridge opened. The trip took two hours, and waiting to get aboard could take even longer.

Burrus said he hoped the fix, whatever it may be, is "least invasive to the village of Rodanthe. We'd like for it to keep its character."

Said Judge: "I want to hear from the public. If there is a preponderance of support for one option from Hatteras, I will advocate for that."

That has not happened yet, Judge said.

"Everybody has an opinion. Everybody has an idea," Burrus said. "Put it in writing and get it to the state."

Folks were given a handout from NCDOT as soon as they arrived at Tuesday's meeting, then directed to a side room where a brief, pre-recorded presentation played continuously.

Some of the options, the presentation cautioned, "could require property acquisition and the relocation of homes and businesses."

NCDOT could make a decision on both sites early next year. It hopes to award construction contracts for both projects by December 2012.

Residents and property owners were encouraged to take a look at giant maps detailing each option on walls in a far back room, where engineers took questions, and to fill out a comment sheet seeking feedback.

Some sat down to write out their opinions. Others chatted around a table filled with pimento cheese sandwiches, cookies and crackers.

James Hayes, a software engineer who lives in the village of Waves, said he likes the idea of a bridge at the Rodanthe breach, where storms have strewn N.C. 12 with water and sand and ripped up pavement for years.

Concerned what a bridge would mean to access at Pea Island, Hayes leaned toward one of the non-bridge alternatives.

Rich Hollenhorst, who owns a vacation rental in Rodanthe, said he'd rather see no bridges.

"The best option is just do the beach nourishment and hope for the best," he said. "I remember driving here the first time. It felt like going back in time.... iIt's part of the whole experience."

A bridge, Hollenhorst said, would detract from that.

Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5131, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com