Appeals court refuses to block construction of bridge around Outer Banks wildlife refuge
A federal appeals court has sided with the N.C. Department of Transportation in a case brought by residents and property owners of the Hatteras Island community of Rodanthe who want to stop a proposed bridge for N.C. 12.
The planned bridge would carry N.C. 12 out into Pamlico Sound around the southern part of the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and into the village of Rodanthe. The 2.4-mile bridge would bypass a vulnerable stretch of the Outer Banks highway near the beach that is frequently covered with seawater and sand.
Opponents of the bridge, led by a group called Save Our Sound OBX, argued that NCDOT rushed its decision to build the bridge and did not adequately assess the potential effects on the environment. They also noted that the bridge could disturb a shipwreck that researchers say appears to be a World War II-era troop landing craft.
But last summer, a federal judge refused to stop NCDOT from going ahead with the $145 million project. Save Our Sound OBX appealed, and on Wednesday the Fourth Circuit affirmed the judge’s decision.
The legal challenge is based on how NCDOT decided to build what is known as the jug handle bridge, because of its shape. The agency had considered various strategies for protecting N.C. 12 from the ocean, but chose the jug handle bridge after settling a lawsuit with environmental groups over the Bonner Bridge, which crosses the nearby Oregon Inlet just north of the wildlife refuge.
The environmental groups, the Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Refuge Association, had called for a 17-mile bridge that would carry N.C. 12 over the inlet and around the wildlife refuge into Rodanthe. NCDOT countered that such a bridge would be too costly. But in settling the lawsuit, NCDOT agreed to consider the jug handle bridge around the southern part of the refuge.
Save Our Sound OBX argued that in choosing the bridge to settle the lawsuit NCDOT and the Federal Highway Administration didn’t sufficiently weigh its costs to the environment.
But U.S. District Court Judge Louise Flanagan and now a three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the government agencies had complied with federal environmental laws through an “environmental assessment” completed in 2016, after the bridge option was chosen.
As for the shipwreck, the appeals court judges indicated that it’s too soon for the court to weigh in, because NCDOT and other agencies involved in the project haven’t decided what to do about it. The Pappy’s Lane Wreck, named for a nearby street in Rodanthe, has long been known, but it wasn’t until 2017 that a team of researchers from East Carolina University determined it was a World War II vessel.
Save Our Sound OBX must now decide whether to appeal again to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mark Haines, a member of the group and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said an appeal is not the only path it could pursue.
“We’re disappointed with the outcome, and we’re considering some additional options,” Haines said in an interview, before declining to comment further.
The environmental groups that sued over the Bonner Bridge joined NCDOT as allies in defending the jug handle bridge. The Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill represented the groups and hailed the appeals court decision.
“Moving this portion of Highway 12 away from high-erosion areas in the Pea Island Refuge and into Pamlico Sound is a well-reasoned, common-sense solution to avoid the frequent shutdowns of Highway 12 that has unanimous approval by thirteen different state and federal agencies as well as the U.S. District Court, and now a unanimous Court of Appeals decision,” Derb Carter, the law center’s North Carolina director, said in a statement.
Construction of the bridge began last summer and is expected to be finished in 2020, according to NCDOT. The Bonner Bridge is expected to open later this winter.
This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 11:10 AM.
