Plans to open highway on Pea Island to four-wheel drive vehicles on
Saturday
RALEIGH - N.C. Department of Transportation crews spent
today surveying the impacts of the Nor'easter on parts of N.C. 12 already
damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Although the Nor'easter has moved north of the
North Carolina coast, rough seas continue to affect the Outer Banks, especially
during high tide.
In Kitty Hawk, there is overwash on N.C. 12, which is
locally known as the beach road. That is not stopping crews from continuing to
move and place sand along the ocean side of the highway to rebuild the dune
that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. They are also removing pavement damaged
during both storms from the roadway.
On Pea Island, the Nor'easter did not hamper progress to
repair the tension cables on the deck of the Bonner Bridge, but it has washed
sand and water onto N.C. 12 at the temporary bridge. As the water recedes,
crews will continue their work to rebuild the highway approaching the bridge.
The Mirlo Beach area is also seeing flooding and overwash on N.C. 12. Crews
with Barnhill Contracting Co. who had mobilized there earlier this week had to
move their equipment for safety reasons related to the Nor'easter. They are
currently in Avon stockpiling sand, which they will load onto trucks and haul
to the S-curves for dune reconstruction once conditions improve.
Weather permitting, NCDOT plans to open N.C.12 to four-wheel
drive traffic by noon on Saturday, Nov. 10. Initially, these vehicles will only
have access to one lane of the highway and Bonner Bridge, and in some parts,
they will travel over sand. In addition, NCDOT will close the four-wheel drive
route from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the first few days to ensure motorist safety
during the overnight hours. Once crews open both lanes of the temporary bridge,
the department will allow four-wheel drive traffic 24 hours per day.
The department urges motorists to "know before you go" about traffic
conditions along the Outer Banks. For real-time travel information at any time,
call 511, visit www.ncdot.gov/travel
or follow NCDOT on Twitter at www.ncdot.gov/travel/twitter/.
Another option is NCDOT Mobile, a phone-friendly version of the NCDOT website.
To access it, type "m.ncdot.gov" into the browser of your smartphone and
bookmark it for future reference. NCDOT Mobile
is compatible with the iPhone, Android and some newer Blackberry phones.
(Editor's note: To view images of hurricane
recovery efforts along the Outer Banks, visit the NCDOT Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ncdot/.)
hurricane NC12 N.C.12
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