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Defenders in Action: Proposed Bridge Troubles Waters in North Carolina
and other animals at Pea Island National Wildlife
Refuge in North Carolina. Defenders of Wildlife
is pushing for an alternative plan that would be
less disruptive to wildlife.
You've heard how taking the high road is often the best choice. In the push to replace an aging bridge to a North Carolina wildlife refuge, Defenders is backing the long road as well.
Consisting of 13 miles of ocean beach and wetlands, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge--home to birds, sea turtles and other wildlife for all or part of the year--is one of the country's last undeveloped barrier islands, which protect coasts from storms and serve as unique wildlife habitats.
Such an ecosystem depends on periodic flooding or "overwashing" of sand to nourish the marsh. The problem is that state highway 12, which runs through the refuge and connects Nags Head with Hatteras Island by Bonner bridge, is regularly flooded and buried with sand. Keeping the road navigable costs up to $1 million or more a year. Artificial dunes and other infrastructure designed to prevent overwash has also exacerbated erosion: Pea Island has shrunk by a fifth of its area since it became a refuge in 1937.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation is proposing to replace Bonner bridge with a similar bridge and to continue to fix the highway as needed following storms. But a better alternative, originally approved by 13 federal and state agencies two years ago, is to build a longer bridge that would allow the road to bypass the refuge altogether.
"A long bridge that bypasses Pea Island would be safer, more reliable and cost-competitive over the life of the project," says Noah Matson, Defenders' federal lands program director. "When you factor in the millions of dollars it will take to constantly maintain the highway through the refuge if the shorter bridge goes through, the choice is clear. The long bridge would avoid all the conflicts the current road poses to refuge management and wildlife."
The longer bridge will cost $425 million to build versus $191 million for the shorter bridge, but the state highway will no longer have to be maintained following floods. If the shorter bridge is built, NC-12 would still be needed and maintenance costs through 2060 are estimated at $683 million, according to North Carolina State University engineers.
"That figure only includes fighting beach erosion," says Matson. "Costs for repaving the road and removing sand would drive long-term maintenance costs up even further."
Under pressure from North Carolina Gov. Michael Easley and Sen. Richard Burr, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne recently issued a letter splitting the bridge project from the road, thereby delaying dealing with the severe maintenance issues facing NC-12.
"Politicians are playing a giant shell game," says Matson. "They are all focusing on the bridge replacement, but you can't have a bridge without a road. If a long-term solution to NC-12 is not developed, this is going to be a ‘bridge to nowhere' because the road is going to be washed away by the ocean."
