Posted on June 8, 2020
EMERALD ISLE — Town Manager Matt Zapp said this week work to replace the handicap access ramp to the beach at the Eastern Ocean Regional Access is complete and the project to repair facilities at the Western Ocean Regional Access is on track to finish and allow the parking lot to reopen by Friday, June 12.
Similarly, he expects Islander Drive, which leads to the WORA, to reopen this weekend after a major redevelopment project.
The WORA has been closed to the public since the town closed all beach accesses in March to help limit visitation to town during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
While the EORA opened on May 8, the WORA has remained closed because of repairs and the renovation project along Islander Drive.
The loss of the parking lot this spring has triggered problems in western Emerald Isle, where residents have said day-trippers and other visitors have parked in their yards and blocked driveways on busy weekends.
“Opening of the WORA will certainly help with the parking on the island,” Mr. Zapp said Tuesday in an email.
He said once the WORA reopens, Emerald Isle will be nearly finished with repairs to infrastructure damage caused by Hurricane Florence in September 2018.
With projects finished and the state gradually reopening to business under Gov. Roy Cooper’s phased reopening plan, Mr. Zapp said town officials are “optimistic that the summer will be safe, productive and economically sound.”
The manager said Florence completely destroyed the Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant ramp at the EORA, which is at 2701 Highway 58. Town commissioners approved the repair contract in April, awarding it to U Dream It Builders of Emerald Isle for $69,000, including demolition of the old walkway and platform and the replacement of both.
At the WORA, using a several-year-old $100,000 state economic development grant, the town installed a new 6-foot-wide concrete sidewalk that connects Louise Avenue to the wooden beach access boardwalk, which is being rebuilt to be 8 feet wide. Wrenn Home Improvements of Swansboro got the contract for the walkway for $75,000, and Rios Landscaping and Hardscape of Newport did the sidewalk for $24,000.
“The updates and new sidewalk construction …will help visitors make their way safely to the public beach access,” Mr. Zapp said.
He added the town appreciated the community’s patience, since the work would have been completed already were it not for the coronavirus and heavy rains in May.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid for the work at the EORA, which has parking space for more than 160 vehicles.
Visitors might notice new lifeguard stands on the beach at both accesses. The town said the old wooden stands were getting rickety, and the fire department, which runs the lifeguard program, worked with the town public works department to solicit bids for replacing them.
The new ones, Mr. Zapp said, are aluminum, with sunshades on top for the guards. Two guards are stationed at each access. Ocean conditions are posted each day at the stands.
At Islander Drive, a public-private project has been underway for months. A-Team Enterprises of Morehead City is building a multi-use project on a lot just off the street, with residential units on the second floor and retail on the ground floor.
As part of the project, the company is participating financially with the town on the improvements along the street, including burial of utility lines, new curbing, additional parking spaces, sidewalks and a new street surface. The total cost is $750,000.
Mr. Zapp said the traffic pattern will shift, with the section of the road connecting Reed Drive and Louise Avenue becoming one-way. All other roads will remain two-way.
He said all that remains in order to get Islander Drive open this weekend is “striping of the road and cleanup.”
The project, intended to revitalize an area that was once a commercial hub in town, has also been delayed by rainy weather in May. Once the projects are done, the only Florence repair work still underway will be repair and replacement of a stormwater pipe along Reed Drive.
Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email Brad@thenewstimes.com; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.
Source: carolinacoastonline
