Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency Tuesday for N.C. 12 in Dare County, a move aimed at speeding up the state’s effort to shore up a fragile road frequently closed in recent weeks because of ocean overwash.

The state Department of Transportation is seeking permits for beach renourishment and dune construction at the S-Curves area near Rodanthe on Hatteras Island. DOT plans to use $20.8 million in federal emergency funds related to damage caused last fall by Hurricane Sandy.

Meanwhile, the department has long-range plans to elevate more than four miles of N.C. 12 on bridges high above the surf.

“The people there have real concerns about the road they depend on to get to work, school or medical appointments,” McCrory said. “They need a highway that is not forced to close every time a storm approaches.”

This looks like a beautiful weekend for a drive to the coast -- but maybe the wrong time to try the Outer Banks. NCDOT said that ocean overwash Saturday morning had closed NC 12, the Outer Banks highway, in several spots up and down the shoreline. (Saturday 1pm update: NCDOT says NC 12 has reopened, but more overwash and repeated closings are possible at high tide Saturday evening and over the next few days.)

The closings early Saturday were located at :

* at Kitty Hawk,

* just south of the tempory steel bridge on Pea Island, built across the new inlet created by Hurricane Irene in 2011,

* at the S-turns at Mirlo Beach, on the north end of Rodanthe, also the site of big breaches by Irene in 2011 and Sandy in 2012, and

* in Buxton. And there's more overwash in Hatteras today, so there could be additional road closures later.

Looks like a good place to keep up with this is NCDOT's Facebook page, which has several updates with photos taken Saturday. Also check out the NCDOT Highway 12 Twitter feed.

N.C. 12 is open for regular traffic on Pea and Hatteras islands for the first time since Hurricane Sandy covered miles of the Outer Banks road with tons of sand in late October, and washed out a half-mile section of the road just north of Rodanthe.

Sandy destroyed dunes and sandbags that NCDOT rebuilds every couple of years along the most vulnerable stretch at Rodanthe - and that left the road open to more damage when a couple of nor'easters swept through in Sandy's wake. Looking south in this fresh DOT photo, you can see that the dunes haven't been rebuilt yet. That ocean is mighty close to the road.

NCDOT says it will continue work stacking sandbags and piling up more artificial dunes -- until the next storm wipes it out again.

NCDOT has announced weight and other limits for 4-wheel-drive vehicles that will be allowed to drive north from Rodanthe through Pea Island to the mainland, and it has reduced the emergency ferry schedule that provides the other mainland connection for Hatteras Island. [5pm update: The 4WD access will be closed Thursday from 9am to 4pm.]

Meanwhile, NCDOT engineers are trying to figure out how they will repair and reopen the regular link, N.C. 12, that was overwashed and undermined by Hurricane Sandy a month ago. (See today's story with reader comments.) One option being considered is a temporary steel bridge just north of Rodanthe, like one erected last fall after Hurricane Irene, farther north on Pea Island.

One way to keep up with these developments is to check out a new NCDOT blog called Rebuilding NC12 (nc12repairs.blogspot.com).  ... [MORE]

Rough weather has delayed repairs to storm-damaged N.C. 12, and the state Department of Transportation says the road will not be reopened before Thanksgiving for traffic to Hatteras Island.

“Unfortunately NCDOT crews have been at the mercy of the weather, and we are not where we want to be in terms of reopening N.C. 12,” said Jerry Jennings, who oversees DOT operations in Dare and 13 other northeastern counties.  “With recent weather conditions and another forecasted Nor’easter on the way, we will be unable to fully reopen N.C. 12 by Thanksgiving, but are working with the Ferry Division to accommodate the demands of holiday travelers.”

DOT has allowed four-wheel-drive vehicles to travel during daylight hours along the damaged roadway -- through sand, standing water and broken pavement -- on Pea Island and the northern end of Hatteras Island. But storm overwash closed that access several times this week. More stormy weather is in the forecast, and DOT said four-wheel-drive access might be limited to low-tide times.

Emergency ferry service continues between Stumpy Point on the mainland and Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, and DOT has expanded the schedule for its regular ferry from Swan Quarter to Ocracoke. New Dare County webcams show how many vehicles are waiting to board the ferries at Stumpy Point and Rodanthe.

DOT engineer Pablo Hernandez shot this photo, and others, around 8am today  to show why the N.C. 12 corridor on Pea Island is again closed for the 4WD vehicles that had begun driving through here last weekend. (Time stamp that says it was shot 5:44pm yesterday is in error, Hernandez says.)

On Oct. 28, Hurricane Sandy wiped out the tall, man-made dune and sandbags that NCDOT rebuilds every year or two in an effort to protect this most vulnerable stretch of the Outer Banks highway, just north of Rodanthe.

With this week's rough seas, there's nothing between the Atlantic and the asphalt. And in the background, the northernmost dozen or so Mirlo Beach houses are in the surf, too.

N.C. 12 was closed south of Oregon Inlet until mid-afternoon Sunday after an early-morning construction accident killed a state Department of Transportation employee working to clean up tons of sand that have covered parts of the Outer Banks highway since Hurricane Sandy closed the road two weeks ago, DOT said.

The accident occurred sometime between 1 a.m. and 1:45 a.m., DOT spokeswoman Lisa Schell said. [4 p.m. update: DOT identified the worker as Michael Brad Stevenson, 37, of Hertford, who had been a DOT employee for 15 years. He was driving a dump truck, and a second dump truck driver also was injured. The accident occurred on Pea Island just south of Oregon Inlet.]

“When the accident occurred, the road was closed to four-wheel-drive traffic,” Schell said. “There was no traffic on that road other than the DOT crews.” ... [MORE]

The state Department of Transportation has awarded two contracts to repair Hurricane Sandy's damage to N.C. 12, the Outer Banks highway, in Dare County.

An $893,297 contract with RPC Contracting will rebuild pavement, repair sandbags and rebuild a dune in Kitty Hawk, and repair N.C. 12 pavement near the temporary bridge built on Pea Island after damage caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011.  A $186,293 contract with Carolina Bridge Co. will repair tension cables on Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet.

DOT also said it was working to provide access for four-wheel-drive vehicles in the sand along the N.C. 12 path, so that some vehicles will be able to travel between Hatteras Island and the mainland before final repairs to the road are completed. ... [MORE]

View NC 12 & NC Ferry Routes in a larger map

It took more than 20 years of studies, lawsuits, reversals and anguish before NCDOT finally awarded a $215.8 million contract in July to replace the deteriorating bridge that carries N.C. 12 across Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks.

But a decison is likely to come much more quickly on the next phase of NCDOT's effort to shore up this storm-battered highway on the shifting Outer Banks, and it will be even more expensive. (See today's story with map and reader comments.) [12/16/11 update: Some options have been eliminated, but bridges still possible. See NCDOT announcement and second-day story with reader comments.]

Unless the US Fish & Wildlife Service reverses recent decisions and agrees to consider options that would require construction outside the highway easement through the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, NCDOT may be left after a meeting with environmental regulators today with only one option on the table: keep N.C. 12 on its present path but build a pair of bridges, each more than two miles long, to lift the roadway more than 25 feet higher than the pavement is now. ... [MORE]

View NC 12 & NC Ferry Routes in a larger map

N.C. 12, the Outer Banks highway that was severed by Hurricane Irene in late August, will reopen for traffic by Tuesday, the state Department of Transportation said today. [10/6/11 update: see today's story with reader comments.]

“The hope is we can do it before then, maybe Monday,” said Greer Beaty, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation. “But everything is crazy-dependent on the weather. Weather could blow everything off."

Contractors have erected a 662-foot steel truss bridge over a wide gap in the northern end of Hatteras Island, known to locals as New New Inlet, that was blown open by Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27. They are putting four inches of asphalt pavement on a washed-out section of the road just north of the village of Rodanthe.

The $10 million repair is a temporary fix for N.C. 12.  Gov. Bev Perdue said state officials will develop a long-term solution to the frequent storm damage and repair costs for N.C. 12. ... [MORE]