Army Corps mends Coast

For most members of the Duke community, Hurricane Isabel meant little more than a few canceled classes and broken umbrellas, but for residents of the Outer Banks, the storm's effects are still being felt.

Weeks after Hurricane Isabel's landfall Sept. 17, a breach began to form that ultimately expanded to a width of 1,700 feet and pushed much of NC-12 into Pamlico Sound, cutting off Hatteras Village.

The Army Corps of Engineers has been repairing the breach by filling it with sand since Sept. 20. The project is nearing completion, with only 400 feet of water remaining to be filled, said Penny Schmitt, the chief of public affairs for the Wilmington district of the Corps. She said the project has been going smoothly.

The Corps estimates its work will be done by mid-November, at which time the North Carolina Department of Transportation will begin reconstruction of the 1,700-foot stretch of Highway 12. The DOT estimates the reconstruction will be done within two weeks after the Army Corps of Engineers finish filling in the breach.

The repair work on the inlet has sparked a debate about the role of man versus nature on the Outer Banks.

"[This kind of damage] has happened before, and it will happen again, there's no doubt about it," said Andy Coburn, associate director of Duke's Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines within the earth and ocean sciences department. "It's just a matter of where and when. It all brings back the question, should we even be out there in the first place? This is a very dynamic environment. This has happened so many times out there, and these things are going to continue to happen. It even happened in this particular location in the 1700s and 1800s, when [the inlet] closed itself. It's natural for inlets to come and go."

However, many politicians, such as North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight, have a different attitude when it comes to restoring the coast.

"We build back as we always have," Basnight said. "Wherever you come from, you see disasters. You can't tell people in the north because it gets awfully cold that they have to move out of there. That'd be awfully harsh."

Ten years ago, six state and federal agencies, including the DOT and Army Corps of Engineers, formed the Outer Banks Task Force to create a viable transportation system on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands that would hold up better under hurricanes and cause minimal damage to the many endangered species that live in the area. The Corps and the DOT will also begin researching long-range solutions for protecting NC-12--the primary highway for residents of the Outer Banks, stretching over 120 miles--against hurricane and water damage.

The DOT has also identified six "hot spots"--sections of NC-12 that have been especially vulnerable to hurricane damage and have had to be repaired frequently.

One proposal, which would allow the road to avoid three of the six hot spots, is a 17-mile bridge, which would replace the Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet. However, many Dare county politicians oppose that option, arguing that it would cut off public access to Pea Island Refuge and would cost an estimated $260 million.

"We support a safe, reliable long-term transportation corridor, which would have the least impact on the refuge," said Patty Matteson, coordinator of public affairs for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

More than 4,000 people live on Hatteras Island, while tourists and snowbirds make the population much larger at any given time. Local businesses on Hatteras accounted for more than $1.2 billion in sales between 1998 and 2002.