Much progress was made on Monday, Sept. 5, in Rodanthe, as crews began to bridge one of the gaps in Highway 12 caused by Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27.

Work began yesterday at 6 a.m. with all the heavy equipment necessary to repair the road in place.  All the dump trucks, bulldozers, front-end loaders, hi-intensity generator powered lights, wooden walk mats, and support vehicles were ferried over to Hatteras Island from Stumpy Point and unloaded in Rodanthe.  The ferry ride takes two hours.

Barnhill Contracting from Kitty Hawk received the contract to replace this section of missing road, which is Hatteras Island’s only land connection to the north.  Currently, their crews are working about 15 hours a day but are prepared to work around the clock.

Crews stopped working around 9 p.m. last night.  During this first day of restoring the road, crews delivered about 300 dump truck loads of sand from Avon, which is located about an half hour drive to the south. 

Twenty-seven dump trucks drove the loop between Rodanthe and Avon bringing about 6,000 cubic yards of sand to the storm-damaged area.

Natural shoaling has reduced the size and depth of the little inlet at Mirlo Beach, and there is only a small amount of flowing ocean water at high tide.  The sand dunes, which were washed away during the storm, will be restored as part of this project.

There is still standing water on the west side of the missing road which is stagnant and breeding an unbelievable number of mosquitoes.  DOT is considering draining this area, according to one Barnhill Contracting employee.

Still present is a significant amount of debris from the collapsed house which fell into the ocean on Sept. 2.

The bigger road issue still exists to the north where an inlet continues to flow freely between the ocean and the Pamlico Sound.  This cut grows larger everyday, and the swell from Hurricane Katia started to hit the Hatteras coastline Monday afternoon. High seas and wave action will only hasten the flow of ocean water through the new inlet. 

A temporary bridge will be installed over the inlet until permanent repairs to the road can be made.

The Dare County Sheriff’s Office asks that all sightseers to the area stay totally clear of the road repair area.  The dump trucks are constantly coming and going and are not looking for foot traffic.  They are using the short side road so the trucks can circle around instead of stopping and backing up.  Also, please use caution when walking up the beach because of the amount of dangerous debris created by the collapse of the oceanfront house, Tailwinds.  Also, don't walk under the oceanfront homes because some have been marked by Dare County as unsafe structures.

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