Off the U.S. east coast of North Carolina lies the beautiful barrier islands called the Outer Banks. When hurricane Irene arrived this past August, the storm blew over the Outer Banks, and a major road called Highway 12 was washed away. The southern part of the Outer Banks remains cut off and accessible only by ferry.
The areas that remain isolated start at the Oregon Inlet Bridge entering into Hatteras Island, Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, Buxton, and Frisco. With these towns accessible only by ferry, locals and visitors are finding getting to the islands quite an ordeal and inconvenience.
Montana Blackstock, a resident in Buxton said in a phone interview, “It is really bad. We cannot go to the doctor or go shopping. It takes a 12-hour ferry ride to go anywhere and we have to get a pass before we can ride the ferry. However, there are ferry emergency passes if someone needs urgent medical care. Generally, we have to wait in a line for six hours to get on the ferry and there are no ferry reservations.”
Gov. Perdue stated that there would be a temporary bridge built until a long term plan was developed. Safety and spending are a major concern since the barrier islands are essentially sand, which is constantly shifting in storms and high winds.
Greer Beaty, director of Communications with the North Carolina Department of Transportation said on a phone interview, “There is a temporary solution right now to get a bridge built within the next three to six weeks so traffic can get moving as soon as possible. Once the governor approves a plan then we will have a long term solution. Technical and data experts are reviewing solutions at this point; they are working together to come up with the right solution.”
With the Outer Bank’s nature sanctuaries and remote beaches these barrier islands are a popular vacation spot. The transition of seasons, summer to autumn, is also often a favored time to travel due to prime weather temperatures and lower prices on beach vacation rentals. This has affected numerous small business owners in the Southern Outer Banks. In Rondanthe, one cafe's answering machine still said they were closed due to evacuations during Irene.
“Right now we really hope to have the temporary bridge in place soon so people will be able to drive. We have a night crew and a day crew out there working, so our crew members are working 24 hours a day. If we have good weather then we may finish in pretty good time. The crew members are working as hard as they can to get traffic going again.” said Beaty.
