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New Rodanthe Bridge on Hatteras Island is now open

Bridge.jpg
NCDOT NC12
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Twitter
Pictured is the first vehicle to cross the new Rodanthe Bridge when the southbound lanes opened at 11:40 a.m. on July 28, 2022.

After some delays, the 2.4-mile Rodanthe Bridge on Hatteras Island is finally open to vehicular traffic.

The bridge extends over the Pamlico Sound from the southern end of the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge to the northern end of Rodanthe. It allows motorists to bypass an area of state Highway 12 in northern Rodanthe that is prone to significant flooding and washing out during severe storms.

The $155 million dollar bridge, which had been under construction since 2018, was opened for a day in mid-April to walkers, runners and cyclists. It was expected to open to vehicles shortly afterward, ahead of the spring and summer travel season. But pavement markings on the bridge did not meet state regulations and had to be redone.

Mechanical problems with that work developed and the opening was delayed further. The bridge replaces a paved road and is expected to provide better access to the area.

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Gwendolyn is an award-winning journalist who has covered a broad range of stories on the local and national levels. Her experience includes producing on-air reports for National Public Radio and she worked full-time as a producer for NPR’s All Things Considered news program for five years. She worked for several years as an on-air contract reporter for CNN in Atlanta and worked in print as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group, The Washington Post and covered Congress and various federal agencies for the Daily Environment Report and Real Estate Finance Today. Glenn has won awards for her reports from the Maryland-DC-Delaware Press Association, SNA and the first-place radio award from the National Association of Black Journalists.