North Carolina Department of Transportation crews are working around the clock to remove water and sand from North Carolina Highway 12. For now, the road remains closed, with no timeline on when it might reopen.
Last year, N.C. Highway 12 faced at least three shutdowns caused by intense winter storms.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Each overwash comes with a cost.
“We need to do everything we can to protect it,” Gov. Josh Stein said.
WRAL News asked Stein about the repeated cost to taxpayers to protect, clean, and in some cases, rebuild Highway 12.
“This is an important road for North Carolina,” Stein said. “There are so many people that live there, there are so many tourism dollars that go on that road.”
From routine maintenance to federal disaster money, at least $70 million was spent on Highway 12 between 2012 and 2022. That total doesn’t include the billions of dollars put toward beach nourishment projects along the Outer Banks to fight erosion, which makes the highway even more vulnerable.
“Longer term, we are looking at a number of studies,” said Joey Hopkins, the state’s secretary of transportation.
Hopkins said short-term fixes are necessary, but the state is also considering larger solutions.
“What we need to do as far as potentially making it more resilient, potentially relocated to a higher area,” he said.
Previous: 'North Carolina dodged a bullet': Gov. Josh Stein tours Outer Banks to see Hurricane Erin damage
Related: Why efforts to protect Highway 12 could be making flooding worse
WRAL News found a NCDOT-sponsored study from 1991 that identified known hot spots along the highway. More than 30 years later, the only permanent solution has been the Jug Handle Bridge near Rodanthe, which opened in 2022.
With the beaches along Cape Hatteras National Seashore carrying an estimated $864 million impact on the local economy, Governor Stein said maintaining and repairing Highway 12 is not “throwing money into the ocean.”
“People love our Outer Banks; people need to be able to get to them,” Stein said.
Hopkins said there is no set reopening date for N.C. Highway 12 at this time. Crews will be monitoring high tide over the next couple of days to determine when it’s safe to reopen.