THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 12, 1995 TAG: 9509120263
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: OCRACOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
Although Hurricane Luis stayed 380 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras last weekend, surges from the Atlantic storm swept more than a foot of seawater across Route 12 in several spots along the Outer Banks.
State transportation workers had to close the two-lane highway on Ocracoke and Pea islands for a few hours late Saturday and early Sunday after waves poured about 18 inches of sand onto the pavement.
By Monday afternoon, both lanes were open from Corolla through Ocracoke.
But highway officials were wondering how to keep the road clear during the remaining 10 weeks of the hurricane season - and predicting that even Hatteras Island's current road re-routing project would not last.
``That whole highway system is so fragile,'' said R.V. Owens III, who represents the Outer Banks on North Carolina's Board of Transportation. ``It's all an accident waiting to happen.
``When you can ride by on the road and spit into the ocean, you've got problems.''
``N.C. 12 is, without a doubt, the most frustrating road in the entire state,'' Owens said Monday. ``We're working hard to find long-term solutions to this problem. But boy, is it one big problem. This situation could drag on for a long time. It already has. We're trying, basically, to fight Mother Nature.''
A two-lane blacktop that serves as the only link between the northern Outer Banks and Hatteras Island, Route 12 winds within a few feet of the Atlantic Ocean in several spots. During high tides of storms, full moons and big blows, saltwater and sand often spill across the pavement, blocking the road. State officials had to shut down the entire highway at least three times in 1994 - keeping tourists out of the southern Outer Banks beaches and eliminating all access for the area's 5,000 permanent residents.
Since 1990, state transportation officials have spent more than $31 million trying to keep Route 12 open. They have invested another $18 million in routine maintenance. Special efforts have included a $1.8 million beach-nourishment project and $920,000 worth of sandbags stacked along the shore.
This summer, workers began another, $2.5 million project that includes moving a three-mile stretch of Route 12 on Pea Island about 300 feet west. That work is scheduled to be done by late November. On Sunday, waves already were washing across the existing highway, over the sand, and spreading to within inches of the new roadbed.``We're just buying time now,'' said Tommy Tilley, maintenance engineer with the Department of Transportation. ``Even this little storm reached almost all the way to that new road project. The part of the highway they're building out there now needs to be 4 or 5 feet higher. If that storm had really come in here last weekend, it would've just beat us to pieces.''
Without even spinning close to shore, Tilley said, Hurricane Luis managed to flatten about 300 feet of sand dunes that were protecting the highway in Ocracoke. More than 18 inches of sand was piled across a half-mile stretch of road just south of the ferry docks. On Pea Island, at the sandbags, waves were rolling right onto the road.
The hurricane caused seas to build about three feet higher than normal along Outer Banks beaches, said National Weather Service meteorologist James Ireland. A full moon added another 2 1/2 feet in wave height, he said. So surges were more than 5 feet higher than usual along most of the barrier islands.
``We'll have rough seas for the next couple of days or so. But most of the overwash should be gone for now,'' Ireland said Monday. ``Until they build a causeway, though, all their work on N.C. 12 won't do anyone any good. They're just throwing money in a sinkhole.''
Local and state politicians have spent years talking about long-term plans to save Route 12 through Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Suggestions include building an elevated highway, creating a low-slung causeway over parts of the island, or bridging the entire Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Cost estimates, however, have been prohibitive.
A replacement for the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet alone is expected to cost taxpayers about $93 million. Owens estimated that a causeway would run at least $30 million more. So short-term solutions - like scooping sand off the pavement and re-routing the road - remain the state's primary projects.
``We still need to shore up the dunes some in Ocracoke. And we're waiting for all the permits to do that. Hopefully, we'll get them later this week,'' Department of Transportation District Engineer Jerry Jennings said. ``All we can do now is keep clearing the road after the storms are over. We had crews out there all weekend, through the night Saturday and Sunday.''
Besides moving part of Route 12 west, transportation officials are trying to work out a deal with the Army Corps of Engineers to stockpile sand for beach nourishment. The corps plans to dredge Oregon Inlet later this month. Highway department workers are hoping to retain 10,000 cubic yards of sand from the channel to use to fortify the beach east of the sandbags on Pea Island.
``I'd hate to even think about what would've happened if that hurricane really had come in here,'' Tilley said. ``I was surprised it did as much damage to Ocracoke as it did.
``We dodged another bullet - for now. But we've still got a long way to go in this hurricane season. It's still only September, you know.'' by CNB