The final section of N.C. 12 damaged by Hurricane Sandy and a pair of Nor’easters reopened at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The nearly back-to-back storms broke apart the pavement along a 0.4-mile section of the highway just north of Mirlo Beach in Dare County and washed away protective dunes along the roadway.

“Our crews have battled wind, rain and rough seas to repair and restore traffic to this critical lifeline to Hatteras Island,” said N.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Gene Conti. “We appreciate their hard work and look forward to seeing vehicles flowing on the road once again between Rodanthe and the mainland.”

To rebuild N.C. 12, crews removed the damaged pavement, graded the road bed and hauled in dozens of dump truck loads of asphalt from Williamston to form the new roadway. They finished putting down the second layer of asphalt today. Crews are currently striping the new lanes and reconstructing shoulders to create a gentle slope to ensure motorists safety. 

NCDOT expects the work to be complete by 8 p.m. At that time, the department will close the four-wheel drive route, remove the checkpoints and reopen the highway to all traffic. Sandbag installation and dune reconstruction along N.C. 12 remain under way and will continue after the road reopens.

As soon as vehicles begin traveling down the newly paved highway, the NCDOT Ferry Division will officially close the emergency ferry route, which carries motorists between Stumpy Point and Rodanthe. The Hatteras-Ocracoke route will not revert to its regular winter schedule until sometime after Christmas. 

The vessels used during the operation will return to service at the routes where they were previously assigned, but the Ferry Division will remain on standby to assist if N.C. 12 becomes impassable again.

For more information about N.C. 12 recovery efforts, visit the N.C. 12 recovery webpage or the N.C. 12 Facebook page. For the latest ferry schedules, call 1-800-BY-FERRY and press “1,” or visit the NCDOT Ferry webpage. 

In addition, a new webpage that showcases projects along N.C. 12 from the replacement of the Bonner Bridge to short- and long-term solutions for the breaches caused by Hurricane Irene last year is now live at www.ncdot.gov/nc12/.