Ocracoke group wants governor to try to hurry fixes for NC 12 along Outer Banks
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- Ocracoke businesses urge Gov. Stein to declare emergency for NC 12 repairs
- Group wants state to accelerate winter projects and seek variance to replace sandbags
- Officials warn sea-level rise and storms will increase NC 12 closures and damage
A group of Ocracoke Village business owners has added its voice to the chorus calling for Gov. Josh Stein to declare an emergency over the condition of N.C. Highway 12 on the Outer Banks.
The group, called the Ocracoke Access Alliance, also wants the governor and state legislators to:
- Accelerate a plan for repair projects now scheduled to begin next spring, starting those this winter instead, and
- Develop long-term solutions to protect the critical highway that’s threatened by erosion and sea-level rise.
Justin LeBlanc, executive director of the group, said he sent the request in a letter to Stein on Dec. 18, but the governor had not had time to respond.
A beleaguered bit of asphalt
N.C. 12 is the two-lane highway stinging together the chain of islands that make up the Outer Banks. With ferries that connect across the waterways, the highway gives residents and 5 million visitors each year a way to get to and from the mainland and between the islands.
The road has long been subject to flooding and sand inundation from tropical storms and hurricanes, which occasionally also have opened new inlets, requiring the construction of emergency bridges. Climate scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say that as the global climate warms, those storms are becoming more frequent and more intense.
But in recent years, the road gets flooded or buried in sand even without tropical systems in part because of sea level rise. Scientists also say decades of trying to block the ocean from overwashing the islands — a natural process — has prevented sand from building up, leaving the islands at a lower elevation relative to the sea.
DOT has identified a series of “hot spots” along N.C. 12 that typically flood or get buried when certain kinds of weather roll in. Some of the most troublesome spots are near Rodanthe, Buxton and north of Ocracoke, between the village and the ferry landing for vessels traveling to and from Hatteras Island.
Crews are dispatched to clear those spots as quickly as possible. Still, this year, when no hurricanes made landfall in North Carolina, N.C. 12 has had to be closed for days at a time.
According to NASA, between 1993 and 2024, global sea level rose 4 inches.
By 2050, sea level on the Outer Banks is expected to rise another 15 to 22 inches, which is more than the projected global average, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. As the water rises, the agency says, flooding will happen more often and be more severe even without major storms.
Some new sandbags may be on the way
Jamie Kritzer, a spokesman for DOT, said the state plans to replace existing sandbags that were placed along N.C. 12 on Ocracoke “by next spring.”
The sandbags were placed along a stretch of the road that was badly damaged during Hurricane Dorian in 2019, when the ocean flattened the dune and overwashed the pavement, buckling and breaking it. Much of Ocracoke Village was inundated with water from the Pamlico Sound during that storm as well.
LeBlanc said the original sandbags have torn open and spilled their contents or been submerged underwater. Because North Carolina doesn’t allow sandbags or other “hardening” of the shoreline, the state Coastal Resources Commission has to grant a variance in order for the sandbags to be replaced.
LeBlanc said his group has been told DOT has applied for the variance and it’s expected to be granted.
“I think our elected officials at the state and federal level are paying attention,” LeBlanc said. “I just think there is the typical inertia. These processes are slow. And government doesn’t tend to fix things until there is a full-blown crisis.”
LeBlanc and others who live along the Outer Banks are worried the next crisis could come over the winter, when nor’easters — storms that can be as powerful as tropical systems — can batter the islands and erode away the beaches.
A few months later starts another hurricane season.
The Ocracoke Access Alliance, along with Sen. Bobby Hanig, a Republican from Powell’s Point in Currituck County, and Hyde County officials are urging the governor to issue a state disaster declaration for N.C. 12.
“Such a declaration could unlock critical Federal Highway Administration emergency funds needed to stabilize and protect this vital corridor,” LeBlanc wrote to Stein.
What’s the long-term plan for N.C. 12?
LeBlanc said his group, which formed in September in response to the damage caused by a series of strong storms passing offshore, also wants the state to begin working on mid-range and longer-term plans to maintain N.C. 12.
A task force studied the problems with the road and made recommendations in 2023, leaning toward building bridges to go around or over the hot spots. No action has been taken on the recommendations.
On Ocracoke, LeBlanc said he hopes that after the sandbags are replaced, money can be found for a beach nourishment project that might buy years of protection from big storms.
“We are firm believers in, ‘The squeaky wheel gets the grease,’” he said. “We’re just trying to squeak a little more.”
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This story was originally published December 24, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
