N.C. 12 Reopens With Temporary Repair

RODANTHE – State transportation officials reopened N.C. 12 on Pea Island at 3 p.m. Tuesday, using a one-lane gravel road as a temporary fix to move hundreds of eager travelers north from Hatteras Island to the mainland.

The road’s reopening came five days after a nor’easter damaged a 1,000-foot section of N.C. 12 on Pea Island and forced the road’s closure.

State Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson visited the area on Tuesday prior to the road reopening. He gave media an update on the efforts to restore transportation to the Outer Banks communities.

“We’re grateful to everyone who put their lives aside over the past week to reopen this road, activate an emergency ferry route and keep people informed about the major work being done to restore travel on the Outer Banks,” Johnson said. “We couldn’t do this work without strong partnerships with our federal, state and local partners.”

During his visit, Johnson and other state and local leaders visited Stumpy Point, where the NCDOT Ferry Division stood up an emergency route on Sunday so people and goods could be taken between the Outer Banks and the mainland. The Stumpy Point-to-Rodanthe emergency ferry route will continue until traffic congestion on Hatteras Island subsides and officials determine the ferry route is no longer required.

Also, Dare County’s emergency entry restrictions​ remain in place for all ferry departures to Hatteras and Rodanthe. That means that only essential personnel, critical business vendors, and permanent Hatteras Island residents will be allowed onto Hatteras-bound ferries. Law enforcement will be onsite to ensure compliance with entry restrictions. Visitors will not be allowed onto Hatteras-bound ferries at this time.

Leaders also visited the Pea Island site and thanked NCDOT crews who have been working to restore temporary access along N.C. 12 since Sunday. That’s when tides subsided enough that NCDOT crews could start rebuilding the road’s protective sand dune. Transportation crews then removed the damaged asphalt and grading, and started rebuilding the temporary, one-lane road from aggregate and gravel.

The road’s reopening Tuesday brought forth a long line of vehicles, many of whom had parked on N.C. 12 for hours so they could leave Hatteras Island and head for the mainland.

Congestion on the road is expected to be heavy so only traffic moving northbound will be allowed to travel the one-lane gravel road, at first. People were cautioned to drive slowly and pay close attention on N.C. 12.

Once the congestion clears, southbound traffic will be allowed along the road. An automatic flagger system will be put in place to control the alternating directions of traffic.

NCDOT crews are now working to reconstruct the paved, two-lane road, but don’t have a timeline for when N.C. 12 will be fully reopened, Johnson said. NCDOT will announce that prior to the road’s full reopening.