A popular stretch of Cape Hatteras National Seashore is open once again just ahead of the holiday weekend.
Park officials reopened more than a mile of beach in Buxton following a soil testing and cleanup effort by the Army Corps of Engineers and health officials. The massive beach cleanup was required to eliminate severe public health and environmental hazards caused by historical military pollution and collapsing oceanfront homes.
While the sand is open, the lifeguarded beach parking lot remains closed for a few more days while contractors remove a large amount of house collapse debris collected over the past nine months. Visitors are urged to park at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and walk north.
Meanwhile, the beach directly in front of Buxton Village remains closed due to threatened oceanfront structures.