NAGS HEAD, N.C. — Dare County residents will get three evenings next week, starting in Nags Head, to weigh in on how the state should protect N.C. 12, the lone highway linking Hatteras Island to the rest of the Outer Banks, after the road was washed out twice within a month this fall.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation will run each session from 5 to 7 p.m. The first is Tuesday, Nov. 17, at Jennette’s Pier, 7223 S. Virginia Dare Trail. On Wednesday, Nov. 18, the group moves to the Wave Salvo Community Building at 23646 N.C. 12 in Rodanthe, and the series wraps up Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Hatteras Civic Center. People who attend can review the plan so far and offer comments on why the work is needed and which early ideas make sense.
The trouble spot sits between the Marc Basnight Bridge and Rodanthe. After a September storm the state put about $2.5 million into rebuilding pavement near the Pea Island Visitor Center, and waves tore it out again less than a month later. Each time, roughly 1,000 feet of road went under once the dunes gave way, leaving the southern villages reachable only by ferry.
The meetings feed a state study called the SAND plan, an acronym built around improving access on the Dare County section of N.C. 12. Federal grant money pays for the effort, which the state runs with the Federal Highway Administration and partners that include the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Dare County. It focuses on 11 miles of highway ending at the Rodanthe Jug Handle Bridge. A first round of three meetings and an online survey took place in April.
Options on the table, which could be combined, include a long span across Pamlico Sound, pumping in sand to widen the beach and build up dunes, shifting sections of the road to steadier ground and new bridge segments along the current route. A consultant hired by the county put the cost of keeping the highway open after storms over the last decade at $72.6 million and has suggested quick, small bridges as a stopgap while a longer permanent fix is pursued.
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