Park offers temporary route for weekend closure of Highway 12 in Frisco

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore will offer a temporary route for off-road vehicles on the weekend of Feb. 28, as a detour to a North Carolina Dept. of Transportation culvert replacement project and temporary closure Highway 12 in the village of Frisco.

Beginning Friday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m. through Monday, March 3, at 6 a.m., the NCDOT will replace a culvert pipe that extends across both lanes of the highway, located just south of Timber Trail where Highway 12 will be closed to through traffic.  The culvert replacement is being done during the slower visitation season and before another resurfacing project on the road takes place later this spring in the village of Frisco.  

If construction is completed earlier than expected, and as soon as NC 12 reopens, the temporary route will be discontinued.

Off-road vehicles will be allowed to access seashore beaches at Ramp 45 (near Lighthouse Road and the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton) and Ramp 49 (near Billy Mitchell Airport in Frisco), to detour through the park for a distance of approximately 8.6 miles total. Approximately 3.5 miles are paved roads and 5.1 miles are over-sand routes.  

The sand route is open to four-wheel drive vehicles only.  Within the temporary, designated detour route, through traffic will not be required to possess the park’s ORV permit.  Within the designated ORV section (roughly 3 miles in length), vehicles stopping to participate in recreational activities will be required to have an ORV permit and in the pedestrian only section (approximately 2.1 miles in length) no vehicles should be parked on the beach.  The posted through traffic lane is the only authorized use in the pedestrian only section.

Motorists may encounter temporary traffic delays of up to 20 minutes while sections of the north and southbound lanes of the over-sand routes are deemed passable for two-way traffic.  The speed limits on the ramps and beach routes is 15 mph, so plan accordingly for extra time and closures may occur due to unexpected weather events and high tides.  

NCDOT will sign the detour route appropriately with assistance from National Park Service Park Rangers.

Dare County is also planning with DOT to construct a pedestrian walkway around the detour.  County buses and a parking area will be provided, so people can park on one side and be delivered to their destinations by bus.

Details are still being worked out