News & Observer
8.5.06
Foes cite problems with bridge plan
Jerry Allegood
Building a bridge parallel to the existing bridge over Oregon Inlet would put the highway to the Outer Banks on a collision course with a national wildlife refuge, environmentalists said Friday.
Representatives of four environmental groups endorsed a longer route through Pamlico Sound to keep N.C. 12 out of the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. They said a 17-mile bridge to the west would avoid frequent ocean overwash and costly rebuilding of the highway.
In a telephone conference call with reporters, officials of Defenders of Wildlife, Audubon North Carolina, Environmental Defense and the Southern Environmental Law Center disputed claims that a shorter bridge would be safer and less expensive.
They also criticized U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who last month endorsed a bridge parallel to the existing 2.5-mile span. Kempthorne said that replacing Bonner Bridge should be a separate issue from realigning N.C. 12 through the refuge in Dare County.
Noah Matson, a spokesman for Defenders of Wildlife in Washington, said Kempthorne's action was a political decision that overruled agencies responsible for the refuge. He said that the highway and bridge are linked because Pea Island is rapidly eroding and the highway continues to be overwashed.
If the highway is blocked, he said, there would be no way to reach the bridge.
The state Department of Transportation had earlier endorsed the longer bridge but scrapped those plans because of objections from residents and government officials. Opponents said the span would be more hazardous during high winds that often whip the area and could be blocked by wrecks.
Derb Carter, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill, disputed critics who say the long bridge will cost $1.02 billion. He cited transportation estimates that said the cost is about $423 million. He said the short alternative would cost $191 million to build, but beach nourishment needed to keep N.C. 12 from washing out would cost an additional $438 million.
Another alternative, which calls for a parallel bridge and later bridging over washouts, would cost about $683 million initially and $31 million for upkeep.
Carter also argued that bridges are typically safer than roads because they don't have intersections where cars can collide. He said the county's emergency plan calls for evacuation before winds reach gale force. If the plan is properly implemented, he said, there should be no traffic on the bridge in high winds.
The environmental groups also said that dictating one alternative before environmental studies are completed could jeopardize approval of federal funds that would pay 80 percent of a replacement project.
Michelle Duval of Environmental Defense said that state and federal agencies had previously agreed on the longer alternative. If there had been no change, she said, work would be under way on the new bridge.
