By Connie Leinbach
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) on Tuesday began refilling sandbags at the north end of NC12 on Ocracoke where the ocean has breached recently.
The DOT expects the sandbag project to take roughly 10 days, said spokesman Jamie Kritzer in an email. After the sandbags are in place, repair of the damaged section of roadway will begin.
In the meantime, that section has been reduced to one lane with an automated traffic light.
An NCDOT spokesman on the scene on Wednesday said that recent high tides have not gone over the road. He also said the state dredge has arrived at South Dock (at the north end, North Dock is on Hatteras) to begin dredging the basin where the ferries dock. Spoil (sand) from that project will replenish the pile at the end of Prong Road adjacent to the ferry office.
Tim Hass, NC Ferry Division spokesman said that with NC12 now open, the Ferry Division does not expect to add any runs to Pamlico Sound routes until the summer schedule takes effect May 21.
“Currently, we are running below capacity on nearly all Pamlico Sound departures,” Hass said in an email. “If NC12 were to close again for a substantial period of time, we would re-examine the schedules and consider changes if we have the capacity to do so.”
Right now, the Hatteras route is now running a full 52-departure schedule, with the passenger ferry scheduled to come online May 23, he said.
As for communication, Hass said NCDOT has been alerting motorists of NC12 closures and reopenings via DriveNC.gov, as well as on the NC12 Facebook and X pages.
While islanders are happy that the road has reopened, they are not happy about the decades-long procrastination on coming up with a solution to the NC12 woes.
A random check with some island businesses shows that businesses have been impacted.
Occupancy has been deficient since November, but worse since Easter, said one island lodging manager.
She also cited concerns about getting off and on the island for health care, including her own.
“I’ve been sick and have seen what happens when others are hurt and can’t get off the island for care,” she said. “A boy last year fell off a golf cart and had to be life-flighted and in the hospital for a month.”
“Business is down 75% compared to last year,” said Stephanie O’Neal, manager of the Island Ragpicker. “Only during Dorian was it worse. It wasn’t this bad during Covid because the island was considered a safe place to come.”
Ernest Doshier, a charter boat captain with Gecko Sportfishing, said the day-trippers aren’t coming from Hatteras because they can’t rely on the ferries to operate and run on time. So, his boating business is losing money.
His wife, Darlene Styron, who has been the owner of the Sweet Tooth for 24 years, echoed numerous other islanders who said the problems with NC12 have been going on for many years and something needs to be done.
“With Hatteras and the north section of 12 unsafe and buckling, food trucks are delayed and/or coming in via Swan Quarter, applying a gas surcharge to us businesses,” she said. “People have been talking about the problem for years, but nobody is doing anything about it.”
One island motel manager did not have the difference in numbers between 2023 and 2024. “But they should have fixed the problem 20 years ago before it’s a crisis like now,” he said.
Hass said the discussion of long-term transportation challenges associated with Ocracoke and the Outer Banks is an ongoing conversation among many partners, including the National Park Service, residents, Dare and Hyde counties, and NCDOT.
“NCDOT will continue to engage in that conversation as we search for long-term solutions to the dynamic challenges we face with the transportation network on Ocracoke specifically and the Outer Banks in general,” he said. “In the meantime, NCDOT will continue to address the Outer Banks’ unique transportation challenges and do everything practical to maintain access to Ocracoke.”
NCDOT recently learned it was awarded a $1.8 million federal grant for a study aimed at improving transportation resiliency options for the future of N.C. 12 between Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe.
The U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that the study will be for the 11-mile section of the road through Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge in Dare County.
While Ocracoke was not included in the award, Ocracoke’s County Commissioner Randal Mathews said that this grant will open up again this summer and Hyde County will apply for funding to study this spot to come up with solutions.
Another short-term solution Mathews is pursuing is beach nourishment, which would buy Ocracoke some time while a permanent solution is found.
But beach nourishment would require a feasibility study, which costs about $3 million, he said, and the NCDOT District 1 manager Paul Williams said it might cost $20 million to nourish the Ocracoke beach, like it did in Dare County.
It ultimately comes down to money, he said.
“But are we just going to let Ocracoke die?” Mathews said. “We don’t have two years to deal with this. We’re in emergency mode here. We’re years behind the curve because nobody wanted to address it.”
I am still of the opinion that building a dune using sheet pilings and tracing it with sand bags behind the terrace and then finishing with beach renourishment from dredging. Hwy. 12 might have to be relocated to the North a bit to accommodate the terraced sand dune. Just an idea from a layman.
Comments are closed.