
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 13, 1991                   TAG: 9102130594
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A/4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

RESIDENTS OF OUTER BANKS ISLANDS CHEER REOPENING OF BONNER BRIDGE

Residents of two Outer Banks islands who were stuck with slow ferry service for nearly four months are inviting tourists back now that their bridge has been rebuilt.

"Now we need to let everyone know they can come back," Emily Landrum, co-owner of a restaurant at Rodanthe, said Tuesday after the bridge to the offshore islands was reopened.

The dredge Northerly Island broke loose from its moorings in a storm on Oct. 26. It slammed into the pilings of the 2 1/2-mile Herbert C. Bonner Bridge across Oregon Inlet and knocked out a 369-foot section, cutting off access from the mainland to Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.

Until temporary ferry service could be set up, residents of Hatteras and Ocracoke could not reach their jobs, and tourists were temporarily stuck on the Outer Banks.

"They say people who live on the Outer Banks are tough people," state Transportation Secretary Tommy Harrelson said at the ceremony.

A ferry from the north end of the bridge across the inlet to Hatteras Island cost the state $21,600 per day. It cost $5.8 million to repair the bridge.

But the ferry was considered an inconvenience.

Hatteras Island resident Ann Bailey, who teaches in Manteo on Roanoke Island, between the Outer Banks and the mainland, cheered loudly when the bridge reopened.

"It's been up at 4:15 a.m. and home at 6 o'clock every day," Bailey said. "Thank God it's over.

"Now, we appreciate what we had," said Sandra Swanner, who works at a craft shop at Rodanthe, a village on Hatteras Island.

by CNB