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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]

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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]

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The hurricane-damaged Hatteras Island villages of Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo will remain closed at least through Oct. 10 to tourists and other non-residents without re-entry passes, Dare County said today.

NCDOT hopes to finish repairing NC 12 north of Rodanthe by Oct. 15, restoring the mainland highway link for the 5,000 residents of Hatteras Island's seven villages. The four southern villages of Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras are open for tourists who can get there via ferry to the neighboring island of Ocracoke. ... [MORE]

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Road crews are working around the clock to rebuild a six-mile stretch of NC 12 on Hatteras Island that was sliced into pieces by Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27, and this week they'll start putting down the first new layer of asphalt.

That's good news for 5,000 islanders who can't wait for the state Department of Transportation to reopen their road link to the world -- probably by mid-October, DOT engineers say. 

But it's bad news for the same islanders who sometimes wait for hours to use the emergency ferry from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe -- because the repaving requires lots of asphalt to be delivered by ferry from the mainland. DOT says asphalt trucks will be given priority on the ferries each day between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m., through Oct. 6.

That means less room for cars and longer wait times for the busy Stumpy Point ferries -- which run every 90 minutes, around the clock.

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Dare County officials may have moved too quickly when they reopened four Hatteras Island villages to visitors this week.

The Dare County Tourism Board and the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce say the ferry system and the island infrastructure have not recovered enough from Hurricane Irene damage to handle the load. They asked county leaders to consider blocking any more visitors from getting ferry tickets to come to Hatteras. ... [MORE]

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Three weeks after tourists were evacuated in advance of Hurricane Irene, Dare County will allow visitors to start returning Thursday morning to some parts of storm-battered Hatteras Island – but only via ferry from Swan Quarter or Cedar Island to neighboring Ocracoke Island.

The seven villages of Hatteras Island have been closed because of heavy damage from Hurricane Irene, which severed N.C. 12 in several places north of Rodanthe on August 27.

Dare County and the state Ferry Division have allowed Hatteras residents and property owners to return to the island via emergency ferry service from Stumpy Point, but tourists and other visitors will not be allowed to use this service.

Starting at 7 a.m. Thursday, visitors can return to Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras Village by catching a ferry to the village of Ocracoke from Swan Quarter or Cedar Island, then driving to the other end of Ocracoke Island for the ferry to Hatteras.

Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo will remain closed to visitors until sometime after Sept. 29.

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Two weeks after they were evacuated in advance of Hurricane Irene, Hatteras Island property owners were told by Dare County officials today that they'll be allowed to return starting Saturday at 6 a.m.

Island residents were permitted to return last weekend. Non-resident owners of Hatteras property will be admitted if they can show a 2008/2009 red re-entry permit or a Dare County tax receipt along with a driver's license.

Access to Hatteras Island is by ferry from Stumpy Point.  Tourists and other Hatteras visitors won't be allowed to return until sometime after Sept. 17.

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Ocracoke will reopen for business effective at 5 p.m. today, with tourists and other nonresidents allowed to return to the island for the first time since Hurricane Irene forced their evacuation.

Because visitors depend on ferry service from the mainland, their first chance to travel to Ocracoke won't come until Thursday morning, when the first ferries leave Swan Quarter and Cedar Island at 7 a.m.  The ban will still be in effect when the last ferries leave for Ocracoke today.

“The island looks great,” Hyde County Manager Mazie Smith said. “We want people to come visit Ocracoke. We have a lot of tourist season left, and we hope they will come back and visit.” ... [MORE]

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Hurricane Irene opened gaps on NC 12 near the sites of ancient Hatteras Island inlets, and in locations where scientists have warned that more road breaches were likely. Gov. Bev Perdue says it will take time and money to fix it (see today's story).

Coastal research geologist Stanley R. Riggs of ECU warns that continued efforts to repair NC 12 and stabilize the island are serving only to weaken it. More storm breaches are inevitable, he says: "Somewhere between the next storm and the next decade or two, those islands are collapsing."

Motel owner Carol Dawson says it's up to the state to keep NC 12 open.