Bonner Bridge replacement (NC)
SELC pushes for cost effective, environmentally sound solution to replacing Outer Banks bridge
The Herbert B. Bonner Bridge in Northeastern North Carolina is the only way vacationers, local residents, fishermen and birders can access North Carolina’s Outer Banks and the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge from the North. In disrepair for many years, the bridge must now be replaced. Fortunately, the bridge can be replaced in a way that is not only cost effective, but safer, not disruptive to local fishers and boaters, and still protective of Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and the integrity of the Outer Banks.
©Fish and Wildlife Service
HIghway 12, pictured here, is built on a rapidly eroding shoreline and is regularly washed out by storms. One option to replace Bonner Bridge would connect the bridge to Highway 12 in a more stable location near Rodanthe.
This replacement bridge would begin near the existing Bonner Bridge site, but would cross Pamlico Sound, bypassing the Wildlife Refuge, and extend some 17 miles to the northern tip of Rodanthe. This “long bridge” option would also save hundreds of thousands of dollars in reparations needed for the unstable Highway 12, the Outer Banks' only highway. As residents and visitors to the Outer Banks can attest, the road is often impassable because of sand and over wash from storms and is built on a rapidly eroding shoreline.
Three years ago, thirteen state and federal agencies, including the North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) agreed that this "long bridge" was the best way to replace the bridge while considering the long-term condition of Highway 12. Construction was to begin in August 2006.
Unfortunately, the plans for the much-needed bridge were brought to a screeching halt by state and Dare County officials who intervened in the NCDOT approval process. As a result, the NC DOT is now promoting a "phased bridge" approach to build a series of bridges, built in phases over the next 50 years, over the existing Highway 12. Such a bridge will literally be located in the ocean as erosion creeps up the outer banks. The apporach is financially irresponsible, environmentally foolish, and potentially unsafe.
SELC, along with Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense, Audubon North Carolina and the Wilderness Society, have formed the Build the Long Bridge Coalition to push state and federal leaders to return to the “long bridge” plan that would not be washed out by storms, and would allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to preserve and protect the natural beauty of Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.
