Posted on October 9, 2026
A newly completed beach nourishment project in Buxton has restored a shoreline that experienced severe erosion and the collapse of more than 30 homes. Will it last?
BUXTON, N.C. — A multimillion-dollar beach nourishment project in Buxton has been completed after more than 30 homes collapsed along the Outer Banks as erosion reshaped the coastline.
The project added about 1.9 million cubic yards of sand to the shoreline near Buxton, restoring a stretch of beach that had been severely eroded.
The newly expanded beach is a significant change from last fall, when portions of the area were underwater and homes were collapsing.
But coastal researchers say the project is a temporary measure in a landscape that is constantly changing.
“There are some very serious questions to be answered and conversations to be had around what does living at the coast look like in 50 years in these areas,” said Laura Moore, a professor of coastal geomorphology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Moore has studied the Outer Banks for years. She said efforts to replenish dunes and repeatedly repair NC 12 can affect the natural movement of sand across the barrier islands.
The Outer Banks depend on storms to move sand toward the center of the islands, helping maintain land above sea level. Efforts to protect roads and development can alter that process, Moore said.
“Kind of like getting older, we do all we can to stay young and vital and be able to do all the things we used to when we were young, but time changes things,” Moore said. “And unfortunately, these are landscapes that respond to changing conditions.”
Moore said sea-level rise and continued erosion are expected to create greater challenges for the Outer Banks in the coming decades.
“The sea level has risen higher. 30 years from now, the same storm occurring today will be much more impactful,” she said.
That means storms that affect the coastline today could have a greater impact in the future as sea levels rise.
Moore said simulations looking 100 years into the future show significant challenges for maintaining transportation connections along the Outer Banks.
“When we run the simulations out 100 years, the roadway alternative is really the only one that allows the barrier to stay above sea level, for the 100 years,” Moore said.
That raises another question: Even if a future roadway or bridge connection can be maintained, will communities such as Buxton remain habitable generations from now?
There is no definitive answer.
Moore and other researchers are continuing to study coastal areas including Ocracoke Island, Hatteras Island and the area toward Pea Island. The goal is to better understand how the barrier islands are changing and what can be done to protect communities and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
For now, the newly nourished beach in Buxton provides another layer of protection for the coastline.
How long that protection lasts will depend on storms, erosion, sea-level rise and the continued movement of sand along the Outer Banks.
Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said the county does not yet have a final total for the cost of the recent Buxton beach nourishment project. A final survey still needs to be completed before the total cost is known.
