Coastal Resources Commission approves NCDOT plan for sandbags along N.C. 12 at Pea Island Visitor Center
UPDATED, Monday 3:15 p.m.: The North Carolina Department of Transportation request to the state Coastal Resources Commission has been approved to place sandbags to protect N.C. Highway 12 at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center.
The commission held a special meeting by teleconference on Monday morning, as NCDOT is seeking to construct as soon as possible to protect the highway from future storm damage, with the 10-members of the CRC voting unanimously on a four part variance request.
The highway department submitted an application to the Division of Coastal Management to modify a Major Coastal Area Management Act permit on December 4 that would allow the repair of 1,300 feet of primary dune, and installation of 1,100 feet of “Permashield trapezoidal sandbags” along the area formally identified as the “Visitor Center Hot Spot”.
While North Carolina has a state law that bans the placement of hardened structures to stabilize beaches, similar sandbag structures are considered temporary and the same law requires special permission be granted by state regulators for their installation.
The Pea Island Visitor Center area has increasingly become a major erosion issue, with NCDOT noting that the average erosion rate at the visitor center since 2020 has been 7.5 feet per year.
There have been multiple dune “blowouts” in recent years along that stretch of the highway, with several instances where water and sand covered the roadway and shut down the road.
In the variance request to the Coastal Resources Commission, NCDOT noted that the most recent example was the coastal storm of November 15 to 17 that washed away approximately 1,000 feet of dune, exposing the edge of N.C. Highway 12’s pavement to high surf.
“The roadway flooding and pavement drop-off produced hazardous traffic conditions, so NCDOT temporarily closed NC 12 to all traffic between the Marc Basnight Bridge and the village of Rodanthe,” said NCDEQ Assistant General Counsel Christine A. Goebel.
The dune was rebuilt under the most recent CAMA permit that allows dune maintenance.
Two rows of sandbags will be placed, with the oceanside row 6-feet tall and 8-feet wide, and roadway side 4-feet tall and 6-feet wide.
The bags will be placed starting two feet below the grade of the roadway, 10-feet from the roadway’s edge.
The dune will then be rebuilt to cover the sandbags, and Goebel said the highway department has committed to developing a vegetation plan to help stabilize the dune that will be 6-feet high and 25-feet wide.
The sand for the bags will come from the NCDOT’s stockpile located on the north end of Pea Island near the Basnight Bridge, rather than being dredged from the swash zone along the beach.
“The sand used would be compatible and have the same general characteristics as the sand in the existing dune and beach,” Goebel said.
The Division of Coastal Management granted approval a portion of the Major CAMA permit modification on December 4.
Similar colored sandbags were approved by the CRC to fortify the cul-de-sac at Mirlo Beach in Rodanthe in 2022.
Because the work is taking place adjacent to federal lands, that requires additional approvals that have been granted in the past.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service said they had no objections to the temporary installation of the sandbags.
Staff with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission also had no issues with the project, as it will fall outside the moratorium on sandbag structures being built during shore bird and turtle nesting seasons.
NCDOT Division 1 Engineer Win Bridgers, Jr. said in a letter to the Division of Coastal Management that they want to get the project completed as soon as possible, not only to protect the roadway but also to avoid those nesting seasons.
A date for when the project will begin has not been announced by NCDOT.
