Outer Banks will soon open 2nd bridge to skirt flooded route

RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — A bridge that will allow locals and tourists to avoid a perennially washed-out route on North Carolina’s Outer Banks is set to open to traffic this month. The News & Observer reports that people will be able to walk, bike and run across the 2.4-mile Rodanthe Bridge on Saturday ahead of its opening. The $154 million bridge will bypass the south end of the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and part of the highway that’s often washed over by the ocean during storms. Construction on the project began in 2018. The structure is known as the “jug handle bridge” because of how it sticks out over Pamlico Sound.