Outer Banks set for massive beach nourishment project

Close to $100 million will be spent over the next year to build up the beaches in the Outer Banks in the most expensive single year of beach nourishment in Dare County history.

Experts say saving the beaches will be a never-ending battle, but it’s one these communities are willing to fight.

“There’s a freight train out there. It’s called the Atlantic Ocean,” Dare County Commissioner Danny Couch said. “And when you build on the railroad tracks, the express is going to come through your living room on a regular basis.”

North Carolina’s Outer Banks are facing an existential threat from rising sea levels and climate change. Each passing year has seen the ocean swallow more and more of the sand that makes up the thin chain of barrier islands.

“The beaches are eroding. You can see down here where these houses are,” Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said.

The islands have been fighting back with the only tool available to them: beach nourishment, the process of collecting sand from offshore and pumping it back onto the beaches from which it was swept away.

The next year will see the biggest investment in rebuilding the Outer Banks in Dare County’s history.

“All in all, it’s going to be close to $100 million,” Outten said.

The county itself will be spending $30 million on projects at Buxton and Avon that were funded in part by occupancy taxes paid by visitors.

“The towns of Duck, Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores, Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head are all doing projects as well,” Outten said.

Dare County leaders said part of the need for the projects is to protect the oceanfront homes that have skyrocketed in popularity among tourists.

“They want all the amenities, they want to live like a Kardashian for a week,” Couch said. “You don’t have to be in the ocean, you can be close to the ocean, but you don’t have to be in it.”

But the most pressing need is saving NC Highway 12, the only road that connects the Outer Banks. It washes out regularly, sometimes cutting off towns for days.

“That kind of money that is coming in here, the highway is critical,” Couch said. “It’s about the highway.”

Western Carolina professor Robert Young told WRAL News that beach nourishment isn’t a permanent solution.

The projects are only set to hold up for five years, and Young said rising sea levels could wash them away even sooner.

Local leaders said communities on the Outer Banks could have to draw back from the water to survive.

“Is it the smartest thing to do, in terms of building on the ocean?” Couch asked. “No, it’s not.”

“We’re going to have to start changing the way we think about building on the coastline,” he continued.

“In the near future, the 10-, 15-, 20-year future, we think we’re in good shape,” Outten said. “If you ask me what 100 years looks like, I’m not sure I can answer that for you.”

But lovers of the Carolina coast said no price would be too high to buy the Outer Banks more time.

“When you put it in perspective, if you can help save a highway that brings people down here to peace and joy and happiness, I think that’s all the money means to everybody,” Hatteras visitor Chad Ackerman said.

The series of Dare County beach projects will be carried out through 2022.