BRIDGING THE GAPS: Latest Highway 12 recovery update
While Highway 12 south of the Bonner Bridge remains closed because of damage caused by Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27, the North Carolina Department of Transportation continues to make progress fixing the breaches and areas of overwash in order to improve and reopen the highway.
One large inlet was cut by the storm, known locally as New New Inlet. A lesser inlet was formed at the S-curves in northern Rodanthe, and there were several smaller breaches.
NCDOT is installing a temporary bridge at New, New Inlet and has filled in the S-curves inlet with sand, forming a sand road over about 5 miles of undamaged highway to the south side of New New Inlet. The S-curves inlet is being shored up with sandbags and will eventually have new dunes pushed into place.
At the north Rodanthe breach area, crews continue to stockpile sand for dune reconstruction and to fill sandbags. A total of 2,250 dump truck loads of sand have been hauled in so far to fill the areas of roadway that were damaged.
At the temporary bridge location on Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, crews continued to drive piles at the north end. Crews also continued to preassemble and sort temporary bridge components. On Wednesday afternoon, crews were able to move four loads of piles to the south end of the breach. If the weather permits, crews will begin installing temporary supports tonight.
Temporary Bridge Facts as of Sept. 15:
Piling: 29 piles driven out of 82 total piles.
Sheet Piling Bulkhead: 374 linear feet out of 1,096 total linear feet.
Concrete Footings: 2 footings poured out of 12 total footings.
NCDOT estimates that the roadway could be fully reopened sometime in early October depending on weather conditions between now and then.
In an effort to keep residents and motorists informed about N.C. 12, NCDOT has launched a Highway12 recovery website and twitter feed. To see more photos of the work, please see NCDOT’s Flickr page.
MORE ISLAND FREE PRESS COVERAGE ON REPAIRING THE GAPS:
NCDOT update for Sept. 13 WITH SLIDE SHOW
Good Weather is forecast for Highway 12 repair efforts (Sept. 10) WITH SLIDE SHOW
High seas from Katia suspend road work Thursday night (Sept. 9) WITH SLIDE SHOW
Pieces of temporary bridge arriving daily (Sept. 9) WITH VIDEO
Progress on Highway 12 is going blazing fast (Sept. 8) WITH SLIDE SHOW
Repairing Highway 12 begins at Mirlo Beach (Sept. 6) WITH SLIDE SHOW
Temporary fix for Highway 12 may open road within a month (Sept. 2)
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