We face transportation challenges on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands, but we are open for the summer season.
Highway 12 is clear and the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry is running, even with the approach of Tropical Storm Andrea, the first named storm of the 2013 hurricane season.
We keep trying to put out the word that we are here and are already welcoming visitors.
However, there is still an impression floating around out there somewhere that you can?t get here.
And this exists even with many of our fellow Outer Bankers who live north of the bridge.
I still hear and read reports of islanders going ?up the beach,? as we call trips off the island, only to be greeted by surprised friends they run into while shopping.
?How did you get here?? the friends ask.
Well, we got on Highway 12 in our vehicles and headed north and across the Bonner Bridge. Or we rode a ferry from Ocracoke to Hatteras and then headed north.
Now, there are no guarantees when you live on an island that you will be able to come and go as you like, but, for now, all is looking good. We?ve not had ocean overwash on Highway 12 in the northern Rodanthe Area since mid-March.
We are dealing with our challenges — replacing the aging Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet, bridging the so-called ?hotspots? on Highway 12, and shoaling in the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry channel.
Environmental groups, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, filed suit to stop a plan by the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to replace the Bonner Bridge with the short-bridge option, which includes a new bridge parallel to the old one.
The lawsuit was filed almost two years ago ? on July 1, 2011. All sides had their filings in the case to the court before Thanksgiving. However, federal District Court Judge Louise Flanagan has still not ruled on the case.
We can?t blame her since the administrative history of the bridge replacement project is some 92,000 pages.
However, while DOT has awarded a contract to replace the bridge, work has not started and apparently will not start until there is a ruling.
We can only hope that Judge Flanagan makes her decision soon, and the bridge project moves ahead.
Meanwhile, DOT is dealing with the hotspots on Highway 12, especially those at Pea Island Inlet, formed by Hurricane Irene in 2011, and the S-curves in Rodanthe.
The project to replace the Bonner Bridge includes a ?phased approach? to the trouble areas on the road.
This gets the environmental groups even more worked up, since they favor a longer 17-mile bridge, which is not affordable, or ferry service only to Hatteras, which is impractical.
DOT has accelerated its approach to the hotspots since hurricanes Irene and Sandy.
The state plans to bridge Pea Island Inlet and is considering two alternatives at the S-curves, where the road was badly damaged in both Irene and Sandy.
Both times, the road was repaired. Last fall, after Sandy, the replacement sandbags at the S-curves were bigger, dug deeper, and made taller.
Those sandbags will have to protect the highway until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes an emergency beach nourishment project in the area.
Writer Catherine Kozak reports in today?s Island Free Press that the nourishment project will not happen until at least late summer or early fall ? well into hurricane season.
And that could be a problem for us.
And, finally, there is the never-ending dredging of the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry channel, which has seen significant shoaling since Irene and Sandy and plenty of northeasters.
The ferry was shut down for almost a month last winter, and then started operating on a longer alternate route. The runs take about an hour as opposed to 40 minutes in the regular ferry channel.
DOT?s Ferry Division is throwing all it can at the problem of moving summer crowds to and from Ocracoke, but that?s a challenge. If even one ferry has a mechanical problem or a Coast Guard inspection, the whole schedule is thrown off.
Visitors seem to be faring OK so far on the schedule, but Ocracokers are going nuts as they try to leave the island for scheduled appointments and/or shopping. Sometimes a ferry trip is cancelled with no explanation. Sometimes a ferry leaves early.
The Army Corps first sent a pipeline dredge to clear the clogged channel. It worked from December until mid-April. However, by the time that dredge left, the channel was shoaling up again, and the ferry had to remain on the alternate route.
Last week, a small sidecaster dredge, the Merritt, arrived in the channel. The plan was for the Merritt to dredge enough that the larger hopper dredgen, Murden, could finish the job in a few days? time.
Then this week, the Corps decided the Murden was too big for the inlet and the channel, so now the smaller Merritt will have to dig away until the job is done.
And no one is estimating how long that might take yet.
So, yes, there are challenges, but there?s no reason not to plan a trip to the seashore.
Visitors who were here today for Tropical Storm Andrea were, by all accounts, having a good day of shopping and sightseeing.
The rain, while heavy overnight, gave way to some sunshine today. However, it definitely was not a day to spend on the beach with winds gusting to tropical storm strength for much of the day.
Andrea is now about out of here, and it should be clear sailing for anyone planning to arrive this weekend.
