NEWS ABOUT ROADS ON & AROUND HATTERAS ISLAND
- This winter (January to March), a large section of Route 12 on Ocracoke will be closed while the bridges north of the village are replaced. During this time vehicles will be routed along the beach. At first, this may seem like a major inconvenience, but when you think about it, it sounds like one of those times that we will be able to tell our children and grandchildren, “I remember when the road on Ocracoke was closed, and we had to drive on the beach to get to the village!”
- When we travel to Hatteras Island from the north, we all use Route 158/168, and some use Route 13/113 along Virginia’s eastern shore. These are two extremely dangerous highways that experience a large number of fatal auto crashes each year. In many cases, the accidents are caused by vehicles crossing over the center line into oncoming traffic. Our sense is that some of the drivers are falling asleep after driving all night to get to the Outer Banks. Please be especially careful whenever you are on either of these highways.
- If you would like to see the traffic conditions at various points along the way to Hatteras Island, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has 17 web cams along the highways in Dare and Currituck counties. These are in addition to the web cams on Hatteras Island. To view these web cams, go to http://apps.dot.state.nc.us/tims/ for the off-island cameras and to http://www.darenc.com/webcam/ to see the cameras at the S-Curves in Rodanthe and just outside Hatteras Village.
- Finally, our suspicions that there were more visitors on the island this year were confirmed by an article in the Virginian-Pilot newspaper that reported that the Hatteras/Ocracoke ferry has carried 8,000 more vehicles this year than at the same time last year. We suspect that media reports noting that Ocracoke Island is the best beach in America have something to do with this surge. High gas prices have also been cited as a possible cause.
Have a great summer, and be sure to stop in and say hello when you are on the island!