Groups Call on North Carolina to Build Safer Route after Sea Reclaims Outer Banks Highway

Conservation groups today called on the North Carolina Department of Transportation to rethink its plan for replacing Bonner Bridge at its current location and instead build a safer, more reliable access route for Outer Banks residents and tourists after the ocean created multiple new inlets and destroyed sections of N.C. Highway 12 during Hurricane Irene, cutting off the barrier island again right before a holiday weekend. Storms continue to prove the warnings by NCDOT consultants, federal agencies, and university scientists that over wash is inevitable for stretches of N.C. Highway 12 within and near Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. Read more in the press release.