The Bonner Bridge

Replacing the Bonner Bridge

This is an article about replacing the Bonner Bridge.  You can also go to:

replacethebridgenow.com.   This article was in the online verison on the Outer Banks Sentinel(www.obsentinel.com)

This has been an ongoing debate for around 16 years and hopefully we are much closer today.  Please read this article and contact the powers at be if this affects you.

DOT holds public hearings on Bonner Bridge replacement
BY PAUL J. GORZKOWSKI | SENTINEL STAFF

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) held public hearings last week to gather comments on the plans to replace Herbert C. Bonner Bridge on NC 12.

Residents gathered at the Justice Center in Manteo on Wednesday night to offer their opinions and on Thursday night at the Rodanthe-Waves Salvo Community Center.

Carl Goode, PE, of the DOT Human Environment Unit in Raleigh, opened the public hearing by describing in detail the two alternative proposed plans for replacing the Bonner Bridge as well as preserving NC 12 through Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge from Oregon Inlet to Rodanthe.

The first alternative is the 17.5-mile Pamlico Sound Bridge that would stretch from Oregon Inlet to just north of Rodanthe. The bridge would consist of two 12-foot lanes along with two eight-foot shoulder lanes. The projected costs for the Pamlico Sound Bridge is $933 million to $1.4 billion.

The second alternative is a parallel bridge which is a 2.7-mile bridge just west of the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge that would stretch from Oregon Inlet to Pea Island. This alternative also would include two 12-foot lanes plus two eight-foot shoulder lanes. The cost of the parallel bridge is $260 million to $309 million.

Each bridge alternative also contains a menu of various phases of the projects along NC 12 between the inlet and Rodanthe. "The Pamlico Sound Bridge would terminate the use of NC 12 from Pea Island to Rodanthe unless maintenance to the road was provided by the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge," said Goode.

The phases associated with the parallel bridge alternative would be a process that would span to the year 2060 beginning with the construction of the 2.7-mile bridge in 2009. Goode said by the year 2060, the project also would include five smaller bridges which would be placed along NC 12 from Pea Island to Rodanthe over sections of the road threatened by overwash due to global warming. The total cost of the project is $1.5 billion. The final phases of the project also would include nourishment efforts to rebuild the sand dunes along the roadside of NC 12 which would take place every four years.

While speakers offered differing views, more votes seemed to lean toward the parallel project and the speakers also showed disappointment in the time it has taken DOT to come up with a decision to replace the Bonner Bridge.

Dare County Commissioner Allen L. Burrus of Hatteras Island said he is for the parallel bridge and the nourishment of Rodanthe. "We need to get it done," he said.

"We need a bridge now," said Dare County Commissioner Warren Judge. "We have studied it and studied it; it's time we get this underway."

The safety concerns of bicyclists also was brought to DOT's attention by locals Richard Lawrence, Jack McCombs and William Brobst.

"Let me say at the outset that it is our strong recommendation that the replacement bridge over the Oregon Inlet, regardless of the length of the bridge, be built to accommodate bicyclists," said Brobst, president of the Wheels of Dare Bicycle Club.

"The features which are necessary for this include six-foot wide shoulders on both sides of the bridge roadway, for both bicycles and disabled motor vehicles. A smooth shoulder surface free of damage and debris and high bicycle safe bridge railings. Rumble strips on the edges of the traffic lanes but not on the shoulder surfaces. Warning signs to alert motor vehicle drivers of the presence of bicyclists, bike route markings and rest areas or turnouts every few miles," said Brobst.

In accord with Bobst, Lawrence and McCombs also expressed opinions on the safety of the current bridge. McCombs stated that the safety of the bridge in its current condition is unsafe for bicyclists to attempt to ride across without the fear of getting blown over the railings by high winds or getting struck my high speed motorists due to the lack of shoulder space for bicyclists.

Goode said the decision to choose an alternative will be made sometime in mid May during a meeting with representatives of Department of Transportation and other environmental agencies.