There was a lot of news on the islands in April — news about public access to the seashore, our troubled inlets, and trial runs of a passenger ferry.
The public can have input on all three of those issues at meetings next week — and more about that later.
First, let’s talk about the issue that was absent from the news again in April. That would be the replacement of the decrepit Herbert C. Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet.
Coincidentally, several readers e-mailed me this week asking for an update on the bridge.
The update on the Bonner Bridge replacement is that there is no update.
It’s been almost nine months — 233 days — since the N.C. Department of Transportation announced it was stopping work on the new, permanent bridge at Pea Island Inlet — part of its long-term plan to replace the span over Oregon Inlet and deal with the “hotspots” on Highway 12.
Several days later, DOT and the Federal Highway Administration announced they were at the table with the Southern Environmental Law Center and its clients to try to negotiate an end to the long legal battle over the plan.
The agencies and environmental groups involved said they would have no public comment until the negotiations ended — either in an agreement or failure.
And, true their word, there has been no information released to the public.
Each month from September through January, the Island Free Press reported that there probably was no agreement because DOT and FHWA had gone back to court to ask for more time on the deadline to ask for a rehearing before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court issued a mixed decision last August on the environmental groups’ lawsuit to stop the bridge replacement plan.
Each month, there was no comment from DOT or any of the other parties.
It’s been almost three months — 81 days — since the Island Free Press reported that the parties to the lawsuit asked for a court-appointed mediator, which they got.
There was no comment from DOT or any of the other parties.
Nothing in the mediation process is public.
Since there has been nothing new added to the court file since the request for mediation was granted on Feb. 12, we can probably assume that mediation is ongoing or that, at least, it has not failed.
Meanwhile, the area of the Pea Island Bridge remains an eyesore of a construction site with equipment and materials stacked all over and traffic detoured in every which direction. Parsons Construction Group has the $79.7 million contract to construct the permanent bridge over the inlet created by Hurricane Irene in 2011. We continue to pay the contractor who started construction in February 2014 and was scheduled to finish next spring.
And, meanwhile, we have no idea when we will find out the fate of the aging bridge and the highway upon which our lives and livelihoods depend — nor do we have any idea what is being negotiated.
It’s long past time for DOT to update the public about what’s going on.
OUR TROUBLED INLETS
At its meeting on Monday, May 4, the Dare County Board of Commissioners will discuss and perhaps vote on merging two advisory groups on inlet shoaling issues into one.
The groups are The Oregon Inlet and Waterways Commission and the Oregon Inlet Task Force.
As you might surmise from the names of these groups, they focus largely on shoaling issues at Oregon Inlet. And, although the problems at Oregon Inlet have been so serious this spring that it was closed to most boats for a time, there are also continuing shoaling issues at Hatteras Inlet.
The Hatteras Inlet problems have led to the use of a longer alternate channel, and that has resulted in economic issues. It costs the state more to run ferries to Ocracoke and it costs Hatteras watermen more time and more money for fuel to get out to the ocean.
Longer ferry rides have meant fewer trips per day, which is hurting the economy on Ocracoke. Ocracoke’s businesses are heavily dependent on day-trippers who come over on the ferry, and, to a lesser degree, Hatteras benefits from pass-through business from the visitors heading to Ocracoke.
A group of Hatteras islanders are heading to Manteo on Monday to make the point with the commissioners that any group that is formed to address inlet issues must also include Hatteras Inlet in its mission and must have representation from the island.
You can join them for the meeting at 9 a.m. in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room of the Dare County Administrative Building in Manteo.
NPS BUFFER REVISION MEETINGS
The National Park Service will have five meetings next week on revisions to wildlife protection buffers it has proposed to meet the requirements of legislation passed by Congress last December.
The buffers revisions were outlined in an Environmental Assessment released last week, and you can get more information in an Island Free Press story published on Wednesday, April 28.
The Park Service will answer your questions and take your comments at these meetings:
- Monday, May 4. Ocracoke School, 1 Schoolhouse Road, from 6 to 8 p.m.
- Tuesday, May 5. Buxton at Cape Hatteras Secondary School, 48576 Highway 12, from 6 until 8 p.m.
- Wednesday, May 6. Raleigh, North Carolina. N.C. State University Campus, McKimmon Conference and Training Center, 1101 Gorman Street, Raleigh, from 6 until 8 p.m.
- Thursday, May 7. Hampton/ Norfolk, Virginia. Embassy Suites Hampton Roads, 1700 Coliseum Drive, Hampton, from 6 to 8 p.m.
- Friday, May 8. Kitty Hawk. Hilton Garden Inn, 5353 N. Virginia Dare Trail, Kitty Hawk, from 6 until 8 p.m.
PASSENGER FERRY TRIAL RUNS
The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division is considering passenger ferry service on the Hatteras-Ocracoke route, and a catamaran-style passenger ferry that works in the Caribbean over the winter and between Boston and Provincetown, Mass., in the summer will be stopping here on its way back north as part of a state feasibility study.
Next week, the Provincetown III ferry will make trial runs between Hatteras and Ocracoke villages and will be available for the public tours. Also, the Ferry Division will be answering questions and seeking your comments at meetings in each village.
- On May 4, the Provincetown III dock at the Hatteras Ferry Terminal to be available for public tours between 4 and 7 p.m., and the Ferry Division will hold an open house meeting at the adjacent Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum from 5-7 p.m.
- On May 5, the ship will dock at Silver Lake Harbor in Ocracoke. Members of the public can tour the ship between 4-7 p.m., and the Ferry Division will have an open house meeting between 5 and 7 p.m. at the Ocracoke School gymnasium.
The Ferry Division has commissioned a feasibility study on passenger ferries that is due in December.
CHATTING WITH THE CONGRESSMAN
My guest this week on the Radio Hatteras interview show, “To the Point,” is U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C.
Jones, who describes himself as an “independent Republican,” is serving his 11th term representing 22 coastal counties, including Dare, in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his two decades in the House, he has been active in supporting issues of importance to Hatteras Island, including public access to the seashore, dredging inlets, and commercial fishing — just to name a few.
In this wide-ranging interview, Jones talks about these issues and much more — offshore drilling, the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress’ refusal to debate a resolution on the current bombing campaign against ISIS, and the role of money and power in Washington.
You can listen to the interview at 5 p.m. this Sunday and on Sunday, May 10, on Radio Hatteras, 101.5 and 99.9 FM. The interview is also being streamed at www.radiohatteras.org. If you can’t listen, the audio will be published on The Island Free Press site early next week.
