Road Access To Hatteras Island Closed

[SSK]

The Bonner Bridge is closed and may be so for at least 90 days. This is pretty devastating for the residents (they have done this a few times in the last few years).

https://apps.ncdot.gov/newsreleases/details.aspx?r=9088

RALEIGH - To protect the traveling public, the N.C. Department of Transportation has closed the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge over the Oregon Inlet on N.C. 12 along the Outer Banks today due to immediate safety concerns.

Routine sonar scanning of the bridge identified scouring concerns, or areas where too much sand has eroded from the support structure of the bridge. As NCDOT crews continued to monitor these conditions, inspections revealed additional areas of concern, which led department officials to decide to close the bridge immediately for the safety of all residents and visitors of the area. The bridge will remain closed until the department can bring in additional resources to inspect the bridge and make necessary repairs to fortify the structure. NCDOT has declared a state of emergency as a way of expediting the process and steps are already underway to begin repair work as soon as possible.

“Closing the Bonner Bridge is necessary to keep all travelers safe, but we know it will have a devastating effect on the people who live along and visit the Outer Banks,” said NCDOT Secretary Tony Tata. “We will work to safely reopen this vital lifeline quickly, and hope to be able to begin construction on a new bridge as soon as possible.”

NCDOT is working closely leaders, emergency workers and other officials to keep the public informed throughout the process.

The Bonner Bridge is the only highway access for vehicles between Hatteras Island and the mainland. Until it is safe to reopen, The NCDOT Ferry Division will provide emergency support to move people and cars across the Pamlico Sound.

Ferry Division workers have already tested the emergency ferry ramps at Stumpy Point and Rodanthe, and the division is currently sending four 180-foot River Class vessels to begin operating the emergency Hatteras Island route. All tolls currently in place on the Ocracoke-Swan Quarter and Ocracoke-Cedar Island ferry routes will be waived for residents, emergency personnel and vendors while the bridge is closed and the emergency ferry route is in operation. The U.S. Coast Guard is also currently on standby.

“We expect the emergency ferry route to be up and running Wednesday morning,” said Ferry Division Deputy Director Jed Dixon. “We know the residents of Hatteras Island are depending on us to be their lifeline, and we take that responsibility very seriously.”

At full capacity on a full schedule, the route can ferry 760 single cars a day, 380 from each side. A detailed emergency ferry route schedule will be available on the Ferry division website.

Not many kiters travel down there Dec-Feb, but if this goes into March it may effect a lot of kiters. I am sure a lot of you already have reservations. Although there is an emergency ferry, this is little consolation for visiting kiters. Priority goes to locals, service and delivery vehicles. During heavy winds and seas the ferry will stop running. You may get lucky and get right on or it can take many hours or even days to get on or off the Island. On an average day there are 5000 vehicles crossing the bridge. During a summer weekend it goes to about 10k.

[dyyylan]

Wow! That's a pretty big deal. I guess it comes with the territory (literally) as part of living on an island.

[Dimitri M]

You can always kite across.
Any way it looks like they should have it ready by May 2014 and this should not effect the kiting season for the Spring.

[rtz]

I can't imagine the entire bridge being bad. Why not replace the problem piers instead of the entire bridge? The section on top can be prefab if any of them need replaced.

[Dimitri M]

It's the bottom of some of the pillions that support the bridge that are not even touching the bottom because of the corrosion.

[Bille]

I
... not even touching the bottom because of the corrosion.

But the Engineers and Contractors who built , got Paid , (i Bet ) ??

Bille

[ben newman]

WOW ! is this a regular thing ? cause it says that it is closed again.

[Dimitri M]

From 1 to 10 (1 to be the most dangerous to 10 to be very safe) This bridge has been rated 1 for several years now. They have been trying to fix it every year but then from the last survey they did they found out from the sand moving that some of the pillions that support the bridge are not even touching the bottom.

[SSK]

Seems to be some confusion. The current bridge was built in 1963 and was only meant to last 30 years because of the extremely harsh environment. It sits basically in the middle of the ocean on a shifting sand bar, subjected to salt corrosion, waves, wind, and high volume traffic. Originally it serviced a few hundred cars a day and now over 10 thousand on a busy day. It has been planned to be replaced for quite a while. So I hope the guys who built it got paid since it has lasted 20 years more than planned. And there are more issues than those currently identified, so they cannot just replace the pilings anymore. Right or wrong (you can read the politics), the Southern Environmental Law Center has blocked construction for years on a replacement.
https://apps.ncdot.gov/NewsReleases/details.aspx?r=8720

NCDOT first began the process of investing in a new bridge in 1989. However, a number of roadblocks over the years delayed construction. The most recent are two lawsuits filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center (one in July 2011 and another in August 2013) on behalf of the Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Refuge Association, in an attempt to delay or stop the bridge replacement on environmental grounds. Until those lawsuits are resolved, NCDOT cannot move forward with the project.

So the plan is to replace the bridge with a new bridge parallel to the existing bridge, but it just recently got the go ahead when the last lawsuit was overturned. However it has not started construction. The current bridge was closed during the winter of 1990 after the "Perfect Storm" or down there it was called the "Halloween Storm". A dredge barge broke loose and collided into the bridge collapsing a span.

In recent years the island has been cut-off for other reasons. During hurricane Irene the island was breached by an inlet about 8 miles South and a small temporary bridge is in place. Sandy breached it about 12 miles South, just North of the town of Rodanthe. Since RT12 is the only way on and off Hatteras Island it has its own Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/NCDOT

[AGK]

Since RT12 is the only way on and off Hatteras Island it has its own Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/NCDOT

Small correction to this otherwise excellent summary -- you can get on and off Hatteras via Ocracoke, but it means taking two ferries and taking a lot more time.

Also worth noting that the planned replacement parallels the existing bridge and elevates the road south of the bridge, rather than building a longer and less exposed causeway in the sound to Rodanthe (an extensively discussed alternative that had high up-front costs but made economic sense (IMHO) over the long run. Given the forces affecting the existing route between the bridge and Rodanthe, the new project is not going to be (again, IMHO) the end of Highway 12 closures.