State transportation officials are warning people to stay completely off the closed section of Highway 12 on Pea Island.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation says drivers are trying to bypass barricades to look at the destruction or claim priority access. Officials stress the area is entirely unsafe, with heavy machinery moving through ongoing coastal flooding.
King tides and high winds have now destroyed more than 1,100 feet of pavement near the Pea Island Visitor Center. While crews have started tearing up the broken asphalt, ocean water continues to wash over the road.
NCDOT plans to rebuild the protective sand dunes before laying new pavement, but there is still no timeline for when Highway 12 will reopen. Until then, the emergency ferry between Rodanthe and Stumpy Point remains the only way off the island.
