Highway officials are optimistic that N.C. 12 will reopen to traffic between Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe on Wednesday, but the section damaged by Hurricane Dorian on northern Ocracoke Island will not reopen as planned at the end of the week.
The stretch of N.C. 12 on Pea Island has been closed since 5 p.m. Saturday, after the powerful coastal storm washed out several dunes and blew sand and ocean overwash onto the road.
As of Tuesday morning, the N.C. Department of Transportation said they have not seen any structural damage to the pavement and the road is no longer experiencing ocean overwash. However, there are still areas on Pea Island covered with standing water and sand.
Latest NCDOT traffic camera image from Mirlo Beach/S-Turns
NCDOT crews and contractors have been working since Monday to clear the road of sand and debris.
Water is still standing on N.C. 12 in Avon due to severe overwash in the Kinnakeet Shores area where there are essentially no oceanfront dunes.
There was also flooding on the road at the motels in northern Buxton that has subsided.
Latest image from North Buxton
NCDOT crews also inspected N.C. 12 on Ocracoke Island Monday afternoon and saw no additional structural damage.
Transportation officials say the storm caused some dune breaches on northern Ocracoke Island within the area still being repaired from Hurricane Dorian.
Latest image from Ocracoke’s north end
This past weekend’s storm will delay this Friday’s scheduled reopening of the Ocracoke Island section of N.C. 12.
At this time, officials are still assessing what repairs will be needed to enable the highway to be reopened.
This story originally appeared on OBXToday.com. Read More local stories here.
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