Bonner Bridge Replacement

The only bridge to North Carolina’s Hatteras Island is nearly five decades old and in need of replacing. The route currently favored for a new span over Oregon Inlet, however, would prove disastrous for coastal wildlife and unsafe for travelers, and would be a constant headache for state taxpayers.

A Plan Built on Shifting Sands

Like the current Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, its proposed replacement would connect to the north end of the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, but the plan puts off until later the hard decisions about how to maintain a safe transportation route with oceanfront exposure through the refuge to villages to the south. SELC is opposing this proposal, which includes a mix-and-match approach to reacting to flooding and erosion that naturally occur in this area.  By leaving the precise planning for maintaining the single road through the refuge until later, the North Carolina Department of Transportation seeks to give itself the option to choose from among various environmentally damaging methods, including nourishing the beach, building dunes, and phasing in and continually repairing a series of additional bridges and road segments through the refuge.

Ongoing construction work would undermine the ecological integrity of the refuge and would pose a constant threat to migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. Moreover, although DOT claims that uncertainty about the future justifies its mix-and-match approach, it is instead the certainty and enormity of future environmental effects that make the approach untenable. 

Wildlife Put at Risk

State and federal officials are pushing for this risk-prone option rather than a longer bridge over the Pamlico Sound that would bypass the refuge and eliminate the need for decades of construction activity in the wildlife preserve. Choosing the shorter route puts in jeopardy hundreds of thousands of snow geese and other waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors, wading birds, and songbirds that rely on the refuge and its approximately 1,000 acres of managed impoundments.

The refuge also encompasses 13 miles of ocean beach that provide nesting habitat for federally protected species such as loggerhead sea turtles, green sea turtles, and the piping plover. The chain of short bridges the state hopes to build would do tremendous harm to these natural resources, which make the refuge a treasured place for anglers, birders and other outdoor enthusiasts. It would also jeopardize the historic value of the scenic barrier island refuge itself.  For these reasons, some state and federal agencies have joined SELC in supporting the long bridge, including the refuge management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the State Historic Preservation Office.

A Safer Route for Motorists

A longer bridge through the Pamlico Sound to the northern tip of Rodanthe would steer clear of the refuge and would also be safer and more reliable for drivers. It would avoid the flooding, erosion, and shifting sands that are a defining feature of the natural barrier island system.