OPINION:
Hurricane Irene was the first major storm to batter America’s Atlantic coast in several years, and the effects are still evident today. But one of the most unusual aspects of Irene is the debate that lingers over an island road and the families who rely upon it.
As Irene made landfall over North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Aug. 27, she came squarely across Highway 12, a two-lane ribbon of asphalt that connects seven remote villages on Hatteras Island with the outside world. The storm carved away a portion of the island near the northernmost village of Rodanthe and created several breaches between the Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound. Emergency ferry service was the only thing connecting the residents of Hatteras with the mainland, and it wasn’t until Oct. 10 that the island was re-connected with its neighbors by the repair of Highway 12 and construction of a 662-foot temporary bridge. But while this effort was under way, questions percolated over the estimated $13 million cost of the project and the wisdom of continuing to maintain this road in the relatively tenuous environment of a barrier island.
This was not the first time Hatteras Island had been breached. Hurricane Isabel in 2003 took out a portion of the island north of Hatteras Village, requiring an earlier multimillion-dollar effort to plug the gap between the sound and the sea. Other storms over the decades also have resulted in occasional breaches, and each time, the gaps have been closed and the highway rebuilt. Researchers at East Carolina University have estimated the cost of maintaining this link to Hatteras Island villagers at $100 million since 1983 and cite that expense and the nature of barrier islands as valid reasons to question the cost.
If this were merely an exercise in mathematics, the task of determining the economic value of Highway 12 would be a simple one. Situated amid the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area, Hatteras Island is part of Dare County, a municipality largely reliant on tourism. It’s big business, too. County officials estimate that the economic impact of tourism in 2010 was $834.29 million, including 11,260 jobs directly tied to tourism, with a payroll of $172 million. More than $84 million in state and local tax revenues were generated that year, making Dare County a “donor” county, which is to say it provides more revenue to the state treasury than it receives from appropriators in Raleigh.
Unlike industries subject to the harsher whims of recessionary pressure, these barrier islands continued to generate revenue through the Great Recession. Since 2005, Dare County and its islands have provided nearly $4.5 billion in economic impact. Clearly, the comparatively modest sum needed to maintain vehicle access to Hatteras Island provides an enviable return on investment by any standard.
Despite the economic benefits of maintaining Highway 12, objections continue. Most recently, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) has objected to construction of a new bridge connecting Hatteras and Bodie islands based on impacts to a wildlife refuge. This is the same SELC that previously succeeded in restricting access to many miles of Hatteras beaches that travelers and villagers alike have long prized, resulting in an economic drag on Hatteras Island and its people.
Life on North Carolina’s Outer Banks has been a precarious proposition from the time of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony of the late 16th century to today. The families who live there have taken it upon themselves to brave the elements of nature, but they should not be compelled to endure the elements of extreme environmental agendas and the false economic arguments they spawn. Between environmental activism that places animal life above human life and specious complaints about maintaining a two-lane road, it seems the 4,300 people who call Hatteras Island home have far greater worries than mere hurricanes.
Scott Hogenson works in public relations.
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