MANTEO, N.C. — Dare County commissioners meeting Monday, Nov. 2, in Manteo, N.C., will look at what comes next for N.C. Highway 12 on Pea Island, only days after the storm-battered road to Hatteras Island opened again to traffic.
The 9 a.m. session is set for the county’s administration building. Consultant Jim Trogdon and the firm Greer Beaty Consulting are on the agenda to brief the board. The county brought the firm on earlier this year to help find ways to deal with how easily the highway washes out, above all on the roughly 11-mile Pea Island run between the two big bridges, the Marc Basnight span to the north and the Jug Handle span to the south.
The agenda lists the briefing as informational. The meeting packet does not call for any vote, spending or formal recommendation on the road.
The timing matters to islanders. State transportation crews opened a single-lane bypass by the Pea Island Visitor Center at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, after a long closure caused by the mid-October nor’easter. With the road back, Hatteras Island opened to visitors with no entry restrictions, and the emergency ferry linking Rodanthe and Stumpy Point made its last runs at 8 p.m. that night.
The spot near the visitor center is still an active work zone while crews pave two full lanes to bring the highway back to normal service. Drivers have been told to expect delays and leave extra travel time.
The October closure came on top of a late-September storm that tore up about 1,000 feet of the highway in the same general area and forced emergency repairs and a temporary detour. County leaders have been working with state and federal partners on options that include temporarily moving the most exposed section of the road and longer-range fixes.
Commissioners will also weigh a special use permit for a home gunsmithing business in Hatteras Village and proposed changes to building permit fees, along with appointments to county boards.
Section: More Outer Banks NC politics news
Filed under: Outer Banks NC Politics News
