Outer Banks Real Estate Blog-Mid-Currituck Bridge Update

Mid-Currituck study
includes no-bridge option

All 3 options include
road widening

A state agency’s study of the Mid-Currituck Bridge project, due out early next year, will include an option that does not build the bridge but instead recommends extensive widening of U.S. Highway 158 and N.C. Highway 12.

Jennifer Harris, an engineer with the North Carolina Turnpike Authority, said her agency’s initial recommendation was that only bridge-building options receive further study. However, after listening to recommendations from environmental agencies and reviewing comments from several public forums in Dare and Currituck counties earlier this year, the Turnpike Authority decided to also study the no-bridge option, she said.

“(The no-bridge option) was not originally part of our initial recommendation for detailed study,” Harris said.

The goal of the bridge project is to improve traffic flow between U.S. 158 and N.C. 12. It’s also designed to help reduce travel time between Currituck’s Outer Banks and the mainland, as well as reduce evacuation time in the event of a hurricane.

More than 500 area residents attended a series of informational workshops in Currituck and Dare counties last February to comment on the proposed bridge project, which at the time included six options, two focused on extensive improvements to existing roads and four that constructed a bridge between the Currituck mainland and the Outer Banks.

Go to Mid-Currituck Bridge Update to finish the article and for more information.

Published Thursday, October 23, 2008 2:01 PM by Matt Huband