A group that was recently formed to oppose the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s plan to build a 2.4-mile bridge out into the Pamlico Sound to bypass portions of Highway 12 in north Rodanthe that are prone to being washed out has gotten a lot of media attention about its recent news release that it has retained an international law firm.
Save our Sound OBX burst onto the scene shortly before DOT conducted public hearings last month on its preferred alternative for bridging the area– the so-called “jug-handle” bridge.
The proposed bridge bypasses a hot-spot just north of Rodanthe ? called ?S-turns? by surfers and ?S-curves? by coastal engineers — renowned for great waves and a huge annual erosion rate, respectively.
When Hurricane Irene struck the Outer Banks in August 2011, a section of Highway 12 between S-curves and Mirlo Beach was breached, as well as a section of road a little further north in Pea Island. The area in north Rodanthe was damaged again by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and has been regularly overwashed in northeasters.
Last week, Save our Sounds OBX distributed a news release that Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, which it says has more than 1,200 lawyers in 18 offices located in major cities throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America, has agreed to represent the group in its fight against NCDOT.
?We are honored that Gibson Dunn has agreed to represent us in this matter,” the organization said in the release. “This important project is being rushed through the federal permitting process without any concern for taxpayers, residents, or the permanent environmental damage the bridge will cause to Pamlico Sound, including destroying one of the top windsurfing and kiteboarding locations in the world.?
Rushed through the federal permitting process? Really?
NCDOT has been discussing and studying various fixes at Mirlo, including beach nourishment and different versions of bridging, for at least a dozen years.
Along the way, the project was grouped in with a lawsuit challenging the Bonner Bridge replacement project, leaving the long-term solution for both breaches tangled in with the legal fate of the bridge project.
The lawsuit was finally settled, and the Bonner replacement project has begun. An emergency beach nourishment project was done in 2014 at S-curves to protect the road while road planners worked on the Rodanthe solution. An interim concrete bridge is currently being constructed at the Pea Island breach.
Brian Yamamoto, NCDOT project development engineer, said at the public hearing in Rodanthe that the preferred Rodanthe alternative was decided officially a few months ago. But he said an early concept emerged about 15 months ago, after officials with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries expressed concerns about impacts on submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) with an alternative that curved further west into the sound. In the revised plan, the bridge now comes in closer to land but impacts less SAV.
DOT’s preferred alternative in 2014 was a bridge within the existing easement of Highway 12. It would have elevated the roadway coming into Rodanthe high enough that folks sitting on third floor decks of houses in Mirlo Beach would have been looking at vehicles passing by on the highway.
DOT says that option was dropped because of its exposure to the ocean, but the fact is that it was just plain an ugly monstrosity.
However, at the time, with the environmental groups, represented by Southern Environmental Law Center, opposing the Bonner Bridge replacement and the bridging of the “hot spots” on Pea Island and north Rodanthe, DOT thought that keeping the road within the existing right-of-way was the way to go.
However, during and after public hearings on the elevated roadway proposal, it became apparent that many, if not most, islanders felt that the bridge out into the sound would be better than other proposals.
The environmental groups and DOT and the Federal Highway Administration reached a settlement on the lawsuit to stop the bridge replacement and other Highway 12 projects in June of last year.
Part of that settlement required NCDOT to identify the bridge out into the sound as its preferred alternative in north Rodanthe and ask the merger team — a group of state and federal agencies involved with studying and permitting the bridges — to make it the selected alternative.
So, yes, DOT agreed to pursue the “jug-handle” bridge as part of the settlement with SELC, but it was hardly shoved down anyone’s throat — especially residents and business owners.
If there is one thing almost all of us agree on it’s that we need a reliable transportation corridor across Oregon Inlet and through Pea Island as soon as possible.
If the project, estimated to cost about $200 million, moves forward as planned, Yamamoto said, it can be awarded to a contractor as early as this fall. After gearing up for about another year, it would take an additional three years to complete.
So, even if all goes smoothly, we can’t expect to bridge the Rodanthe area for about four more years — or two years after the Bonner Bridge is completed.
What we do not need at this point is any more lawyers involved in moving this project forward.
The entire Bonner Bridge/Highway 12 hotspot issue has been studied probably more than any other project in the history of North Carolina transportation. It has been vetted from every angle.
Any solution is going to negatively affect some property owners, and in this case, a few property owners in north Rodanthe will lose their property and others will have the bridge affect it in other ways. The view will be changed. The property might not be as attractive for rentals.
However, the flip side of the coin is that the 5,000 or so residents and businesses on Hatteras and Ocracoke are the really big losers when Highway 12 is impassable. It’s an economic issue, but, more importantly, it’s a public safety issue.
Also negatively affected will be thousands of visitors who depend on Highway 12 — the Outer Banks Scenic Byway — to give them access to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and its eight villages.
Martha and Scott Caldwell own 20 acres and numerous businesses in north Rodanthe, including Island Convenience and Midgett Campground and arguably have the most to lose from either option for bridging north Rodanthe. They favored the Pamlico Sound bridge alternative in 2014 and they still do.
?There?s no easy answer,? Scott Caldwell told reporter Catherine Kozak for an Island Free Press article after last month’s public hearing in Rodanthe. ?In order to survive down here as a business owner, you have to have that road open. I just feel like what they?re talking about, this is the best scenario ? and I stand to lose the most from this.?
Save our Sound OBX representatives say that the Pamlico Sound Bridge will have a negative effect on the kiteboarding business in the area.
However, that effect will be limited to businesses and rental houses in the half mile or so of north Rodanthe that will be directly affected by the bridge.
“It is not going to negatively affect the number of kiteboarders who come here” said Trip Forman, an owner of REAL Watersports in Waves, one of the island’s largest and busiest kiteboarding businesses.
However, he says, that it may negatively affect the kiteboarders who rent houses in the Mirlo Beach area, which he says is one of the most popular places for the sport in the tri-villages. The farther out into the sound to the west that the bridge can be placed, he said, the better it would be for kiteboarding in the area.
Save our Sound OBX also notes that the public will lose access to about 1.8 miles of Pea Island refuge, a popular place for surfing, fishing, and beachcombing.
The DOT plan notes that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not plan to replace the road in the area that will be bridged. However, pedestrians will still have access and vehicle access will continue to be available in all but that 1.8 miles.
There’s no doubt that SELC and environmental groups would like to see no roads and no vehicles on all of Pea Island — but that’s a fight for another day when DOT begins to look at a permanent bridge at the Pea Island Inlet area where the new, concrete temporary bridge is scheduled to open to traffic next spring.
We can all understand why some of the residents who will be most affected are not happy with the plan and certainly we all had a right to comment on the DOT.
But the fact is that Save our Sound OBX has just arrived too late at this party.
We need to move forward with a reliable transportation corridor and we don’t need any more lawyers involved in deciding our future as residents and business owners on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
No good choices for bridging the breach in North Rodanthe. Editor’s blog from January 2014.
http://hatterasdesigns.net/PivotBlog/?e=275#body-anchor
Not all are happy with DOTs chosen alternative for north Rodanthe. Coverage of June public hearing in Rodanthe.
More information about the Rodanthe Bridge, Phase IIb of the Bonner Bridge Replacement Project, is available at www.ncdot.gov/projects/bonnerbridgephase2/
THERE’S STILL TIME
There is still time to help the Buxton Volunteer Fire Department put their chief — Bryan Perry — over the top in the Stand Up and Stand Out initiative to recognize the outstanding volunteer firefighters in the country.
Chief Perry has gotten about 1,100 votes and moved up to fourth place since last week’s blog. You can vote for him every day through Sunday, July 31. Go to http://woobox.com/woodoh.
