The group representing a conservation organization and local opponents to the Mid-Currituck Bridge says they plan to appeal this week’s ruling by a federal judge on their suit seeking to block construction of a span over Currituck Sound between Corolla and Aydlett.
“The Mid-Currituck Bridge continues to be a poorly thought-out project that will waste taxpayer money while providing little long-term benefit,” said Kym Hunter, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is representing the North Carolina Wildlife Federation and No Mid-Currituck Bridge/Concerned Citizens and Visitors Opposed to the Mid-Currituck Bridge.
Filed in April 2019, the lawsuit challenges the N.C. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration environmental analysis and decision document.
The toll facility would cross seven miles of open water and swampland between Aydlett and Corolla, linking U.S. 158 and N.C. 12. N.C. Turnpike Authority officials, which oversee all toll projects in the state, have said as recently as May that it would likely be 2023 before any work could begin.
NCDOT Division Engineer Sterling Baker said in a letter sent Thursday to state and local leaders that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina decided in favor of the defendants.
“The court ruled that NCDOT and FHWA complied with applicable federal laws and regulations,” Baker said. “The project team is evaluating the schedule and working on next steps to move forward.”
“Currituck County has supported the building of a Mid-Currituck Bridge for many years and nothing has changed from our viewpoint,” said Currituck Board of Commissioners chairman Mike Payment. “The county has expressed our support for the bridge to several administrations in Raleigh over the years and we continue to talk with our elected officials in the hope that this project will be completed.”
“To date, NCDOT has presented no financial plan to pay for the project, presented no estimate as to how expensive tolls will be, and failed to explain how the bridge will continue to pay for itself once roads on the Outer Banks become increasingly inundated by sea level rise,” Hunter said.
The groups filed their lawsuit under the National Environmental Policy Act, arguing state and federal transportation agencies have failed to consider less damaging and less expensive alternatives.
Those include widening N.C. 12 through Southern Shores and Duck to three lanes, traffic circles instead of stop lights, and building a flyover interchange with U.S. 158 in Kitty Hawk.
The suit claimed there had been no public input on the proposal since 2012, that the Federal Highway Administration’s approval of the project in 2018 was based on data that is more than seven years old, and that tolls would have to top $50 during peak season to pay for the project.
Previous statements from SELC claim the cost will be above $500 million, and the lawsuit said $600 million when it was filed more than two years ago. A N.C. Turnpike Authority officials said last spring they still estimate the cost to come in under $500 million.
“The bridge is at odds with the both the Cooper and Biden’s administration’s stated focus on resilient infrastructure that considers science,” Hunter said. “We hope that the two administrations will take the time to rethink this outdated bad idea. In the meantime, we will continue to contest the project in courts, starting with an appeal to the district court’s opinion.”
