By Zach Smith
Web Editor-in-Chief

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Herbert C. Bonner Bridge was closed Tuesday, Dec. 3, and remains closed due to immediate safety concerns according to the N.C. Department of Transportation. The bridge is the only land-based connection between Hatteras and the rest of the state.

Emergency ferries are running from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe. At full schedule, the route can ferry 380 cars from each side each day. All tolls on the Ocracoke-Swan Quarter and Ocracoke-Cedar Island ferries have been waived for residents, emergency personnel and vendors while the bridge is closed. NCDOT has established additional routes from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe and both Ocracoke routes.

Routine sonar scanning identified areas on the bridge where too much sand eroded from underneath the pilings, a condition called scouring. Piling should be at least 20 feet into the sand, and the trouble area is only 13 feet.

NCDOT has declared a state of emergency as a way of expediting the steps to further repairs.

“In 1997, four governors ago, NCDOT knew the bridge was supposed to be replaced. Almost 11 and a half years later, we are still waiting for the bridge to be replaced,” said Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Warren Judge at a press conference on Wednesday. “This is not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster.”

Construction of a replacement bridge was supposed to begin in April 2002. However, legal challenges by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Defenders of Wildlife and National Wildlife Refuge Association have prevented construction of the new bridge.

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