NAGS HEAD, N.C. — Park rangers had to turn driver after driver around when they approached the Marc Basnight Bridge Monday.
North Carolina Department of Transportation officials say the bridge may not reopen until Tuesday if Mother Nature remains calm.
Over the weekend tidal flooding and high winds broke down dunes and left a large portion of NC 12 covered with sand. This isn’t anything unusual for the area.
Weather conditions often overwhelm this part of NC 12 and it’s a real problem for people hoping to get back-and-forth to mainland Dare County.
Jamie Kritzer, a spokeswoman with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, says the tidal flooding broke down some of the man-made dunes. High winds were whipping sand across the roadway, making for dangerous conditions.
“There’s a section in there that’s just completely inundated by water," Kritzer said. "It is not looking great at this moment, but we’re waiting for the water to kind of recede and the storm to pass through. Then, if Mother Nature goes easy on us, we'll be able to clear the sand out and reopen the highway.”
Travelers coming through the Outer Banks this week are not rushing their trips along NC 12.
Donald Yirka was driving from Glen Burnie, Maryland, and showed up at the bridge only to be disappointed. Yirka says he wasn't in a hurry, but his leisurely drive came to a full stop at the start of the Marc Basnight Bridge in southern Nags
Head. He says he was just trying to get to Frisco for a month-long trip he already had to delay.
“Well, things were going real well up to this point," said Yirka laughing. "They’re only doing their job. I guess safety always comes first.”
He says he’ll have to give his leisurely drive some extra time as he waits for the bride to re-open.
Kritzer says the Rodanthe “Jug Handle” Bridge, which has been under construction since the summer of 2018, is designed to be a long-term transportation solution for NC 12.
The NC Department of Transportation is raising the highway onto a 2.4-mile bridge that extends over Pamlico Sound between the southern end of the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and Rodanthe, bypassing a vulnerable part of the highway known as the ‘S-curves’.
A few months ago, workers successfully connected two work trestles that are being used to build the bridge from both ends at the same time.
Completion of the project is scheduled for the late spring of 2022.