RODANTHE, N.C. — It's no secret that the portion of NC12 near the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center is a trouble spot along the southern Outer Banks.
“This and the north end of Ocracoke are probably the two most vulnerable sections of NC 12 we have right now," said Tim Hass, communications officer with NCDOT Division 1 and Ferry Division.
After the storm that hit the Outer Banks in mid-November, Hass said NCDOT set out for a temporary solution to protect the road: sandbags.
“They will rebuild about 1,300 feet of dune line here, and they will add 1,100 feet of sandbags to that, to sort of build an extra layer of protection for when storms do come through here," said Hass.
This won't be your typical sandbags that are visible, they'll be built into the dunes that protect NC12.
"We're getting the sand from our spoil site up at the south end of the Basnight Bridge. We're not pulling sand out of the splash zone like we had to do in North Ocracoke. These bags will be removable when it's time to remove them," said Hass.
That extra layer of protection is pivotal. Most of the time crews are continuously rebuilding the dunes before, during and after storms.
“These sandbags will help, at least keep especially the bottom section of the road, because the danger is, if the overwash gets underneath the road, that's when you get road damage," said Hass.
This temporary solution is part of a broader study to find something that will work long-term to a continuously eroding shoreline. NCDOT received a federal $1.8 million grant to study what a long-term solution can be.
“It's a very, very important road. Not just for our tourism economy, but for the residents who need to get to and from the northern Outer Banks, who need to evacuate on this road when there's a storm coming. Eventually, obviously, something else will need to be done to keep NC12 open and resilient.”
The around $400,000 project is expected to begin in Mid-January and last about a week, which will impact travel in the area during that time. It's not exactly clear how long the sandbags will stay in the dunes, but Hass made it clear that this is a temporary project.
