Hatteras to get another new bridge ... this one sucks.

[FLandOBX]

Other thing - whatever flag they’re flying over the cranes is not the favorite colors. Reminds me of ship owners running operations under Burkina Faso flags to cheat on the country and not paying taxes. And later they whine about protection they need when ther stuff is captured by pirates.

In this case the rebar stainless steel is coming from Europe. So much for creating domestic jobs. Just peachy for some and treacherous as far as I can tell.

Keep that Purina flags up and keep importing foreign labor for all your shops. True islander patriots.

Interesting comments for an international kiteboarding forum.

[grigorib]

The forum should know about strong republican affection of the Outer Banks and what kind of presidential candidate billboards you had hung out.
For so much republican bias to allow foreigners to take away american jobs (both seasonal and material for the bridge) is a betrayal and I don’t see any of you protesting except guys whose property gets sacrificed to the projects.

So much for making the country great again, so much of values and respect for the domestic labor shown. Not.

And we contribute to this joke from federal funds and paying for it from our own taxes.

Take the funding away. Stop the bridge. Let them rethink

[FLandOBX]

Kiteboarding content, please???

[SaulOhio]

Construction is already underway. I just rode in the Waves area on the sound right next to the construction site. You can see the cranes for miles. The house my friends were staying in and everything north of there will be shut down for kiteboarding. That's government planning for you.

[FLandOBX]

Construction is already underway. I just rode in the Waves area on the sound right next to the construction site. You can see the cranes for miles. The house my friends were staying in and everything north of there will be shut down for kiteboarding. That's government planning for you.
44452548_1782082168581924_37871531262476288_o.jpg

Saul, if you'd do a little research, you'd understand that it's not so much "government planning" as it is a compromise solution to a decade of litigation that will ensure a long overdue replacement to the Bonner Bridge, which will result in consistent and reliable access to 50+ miles of coastline to the south, plus northern access to Ocracoke Island, for kiteboarding and other pursuits, and thereby fortify a dependable economy for the residents and businesses on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.

Grigorib, it is arrogant, self-indulgent and entitled to spend a few weeks per year in someone else's town and, without bothering to understand the local dynamics (physical, scientific, economic, environmental, political, etc.), insult the locals and tell them what they should and shouldn't be doing, and suggest that you have all the answers to local projects when you haven't even begun to understand the issues. You are a personification of the "ugly American". Hopefully, you don't travel often.

Here's hoping that you both enjoy your kiteboarding vacation on Hatteras Island. Wishing you both good winds and fair skies.

[toyletbowl]

FL and OBX.....I've been renting houses for 2 weeks spring and 2 weeks in the fall for many many years. The arguments (at least on my end) have little or nothing to do with access to the island. Everyone knows there needs to be a permanent solution so when any storm comes through everyone can still get on and off safely.

That's always been a given. I've always tried to respect locals and understand the hurdles with each passing storm. My only question has been why don't they build an elevated road/bridge along the current road from Liberty to the last house, then go out into the sound. Seems logical.

S Turns is a vulnerable weak spot, but so is the part of HWY 12 right after the Bonner Bridge. They are constantly regrading the entire area after each storm.

Isn't the long term plan to have no Road in Pea Island and it will be one huge only bridge in the sound from Bonner to Liberty gas station?

Bob
www.kiteridersllc.com

LOVE OBX...

[grigorib]

...
Grigorib, it is arrogant, self-indulgent and entitled to spend a few weeks per year in someone else's town and, without bothering to understand the local dynamics (physical, scientific, economic, environmental, political, etc.), insult the locals and tell them what they should and shouldn't be doing, and suggest that you have all the answers to local projects when you haven't even begun to understand the issues. You are a personification of the "ugly American". Hopefully, you don't travel often.

Here's hoping that you both enjoy your kiteboarding vacation on Hatteras Island. Wishing you both good winds and fair skies.

9 weeks a year or so and all in the area to be taken away. Arrogant or not, I know that you guys are Trump county and I see how you import foreign labor for the stores and steel for the bridge.
Keeping cheating on the country and taking away a prime kiting spot in the island.

If you guys had balls to push down government regulations and develop your own lawns so they stop looking like snake swamps and more like proper launches it wouldn’t hurt that much to lose this piece of land.

I do travel a lot and I try to stay with people who have sense of humor and can see the grain of salt I put into what I say.

I hope island loses federal funding to build the bridge. Bridge or not you chase everyone out for hurricanes anyways ruining planned vacations and taking away fun of riding strong winds.

[SaulOhio]

Saul, if you'd do a little research, you'd understand that it's not so much "government planning" as it is a compromise solution to a decade of litigation that will ensure a long overdue replacement to the Bonner Bridge, which will result in consistent and reliable access to 50+ miles of coastline to the south, plus northern access to Ocracoke Island, for kiteboarding and other pursuits, and thereby fortify a dependable economy for the residents and businesses on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.

I do understand that there has to be a solution to the problem. But why implement one that damages the great value of a number of rental homes that we kiters value so much? A raised road right where the old one is would be a good solution, wouldn't it?

[FLandOBX]

FL and OBX.....I've been renting houses for 2 weeks spring and 2 weeks in the fall for many many years. The arguments (at least on my end) have little or nothing to do with access to the island. Everyone knows there needs to be a permanent solution so when any storm comes through everyone can still get on and off safely.

That's always been a given. I've always tried to respect locals and understand the hurdles with each passing storm. My only question has been why don't they build an elevated road/bridge along the current road from Liberty to the last house, then go out into the sound. Seems logical.

S Turns is a vulnerable weak spot, but so is the part of HWY 12 right after the Bonner Bridge. They are constantly regrading the entire area after each storm.

Isn't the long term plan to have no Road in Pea Island and it will be one huge only bridge in the sound from Bonner to Liberty gas station?

Bob
www.kiteridersllc.com

LOVE OBX...

Hey, Bob. Your kiteboarding excursions to the OBX are always welcome and, hopefully, will always be enjoyable for you and your group.

The jug-handle bridge is inextricably related to the replacement of the obsolete Bonner Bridge, which is driving the entire Hatteras Island project. So it's all related to ensuring safe and reliable access to the island.

The jug-handle bridge is a compromise solution with the environmental group that had blocked replacement of the Bonner Bridge for many years. That group would have preferred a causeway in the sound that completely circumvents Pea Island, but both sides had to make compromises to settle litigation and get the Bonner Bridge replacement project moving. The compromise will eliminate sections of existing Hwy 12 at the two vulnerable spots that you mention: (1) just south of the existing Bonner Bridge and (2) S-Turns (including Mirlo Beach), which, as you note, are always susceptible to flooding and erosion.

Here's an interesting description of the history and current state of the Bonner Bridge:

"The Herbert C. Bonner Bridge is a two-lane automobile bridge spanning the Oregon Inlet, between Bodie Island from Pea Island, in Dare County, North Carolina. The bridge carries NC 12 and is utilized by local and seasonal tourist traffic. The 2.7-mile (4.3 km) bridge was built in 1963 and is dedicated to Herbert C. Bonner.[4]

Prior to the building of the bridge, Hatteras Island was only accessible by air or ferry. Ferries could carry a maximum of 2,000 people per day.[5] The ferries cost the state $500,000 per year to operate, and there were very long lines waiting for the ferries during peak season.[5] The Bonner Bridge cost $4 million to build and moves up to 14,000 cars a day in both directions.[5] Of that amount, the state of North Carolina paid $1.5 million, and the federal government paid $2.5 million.[5] The arrangement for a portion of the state's cost to be paid by the National Park Service was arranged by Rep. Herbert C. Bonner, for whom the bridge is named.[5] The bridge also made it possible to provide electric power to the islands using transmission lines rather than generators.[6]

The environmental impact on the bridge and road was not fully understood at the time of construction, and now constant beach erosion, severe weather and high volume of traffic continually forces the state to protect the integrity of the road system. As much as $50 million was spent between 1987 and 1999 to repair and protect the Bonner Bridge and NC 12 from the ocean. The bridge was due for replacement by the early 1990s but construction on the new bridge has been continually held back by environmental lawsuits brought by the Southern Environmental Law Center.[7]

The Bonner Bridge was expected to have a thirty-year lifespan.[8] The bridge handles about 2 million cars per year,[9] and the state DOT ranks it a 4 on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the safest.[4]" [Wikipedia]

[toyletbowl]

Thanks for the detailed info. I keep hearing different versions of what ultimately will happen long term and short term.

Bob
www.kiteridersllc.com