'Between the bridges' in Swansboro is an island that is home to Nancy Lee Fishing Charters, Pogies Fishing and Kayak Center and Clyde Phillips Seafood Market. This island is surrounded by the waters of the White Oak River. This island supports the abutments of the two bridges connecting Onslow and Carteret Counties. This island is losing its battle with the White Oak River and that is not a good thing. Recognizing this danger, the N.C. Department of Transportation and the N.C. Coastal Federation partnered to obtain a Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant to install a living shoreline to protect the beaches of this man-made island that are exposed to the wave action of the White Oak River. The goal of this (and any other) Living Shoreline is to stop or at least slow erosion of the island that has, at times, threatened to undermine the highway connecting Cedar Point to Swansboro, a vital link connecting Onslow and Carteret counties. Indeed, without this critical link, vacationers would have to travel via Hwy 70 to Morehead City to get to Emerald Isle and other beaches on Bogue Banks. And, these bridges serve as part of a hurricane evacuation route from Bogue Banks to Jacksonville and points west. These bridges were completed in 1954. Upon their completion, Swansboro celebrated the arrival of the modern bridge era with a Mullet Festival. The Swansboro Mullet Festival, the oldest festival in the Crystal Coast, centers around the small, bony fish that for years were hauled to shore in nets hooked to tractors along the beach on Bogue Banks. Mullet not only fed the bridge builders but also is a fantastic bait fish if you are on a mission to catch a trophy fish. Mullets are perfect bait for redfish, bluefish and flounder, too.
So, we have these two essential bridges on Highway 24 that are nearly 70 years old and rely on a man-made island to keep from falling into the water. IS it any wonder, then, that the N.C. Department of Transportation and the N.C. Coastal Federation partnered to obtain a Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant to install a living shoreline to protect the beaches of this man-made island that are exposed to the wave action of the White Oak River. So, traffic patterns on the causeway, between the bridges, on Highway 24 in Swansboro, just west of Cedar Point, are about to change. The center turn lane will be removed and west-bound traffic will be shifted over to use the turn lane as one of the two west-bound lanes to accommodate construction of a living shoreline. The construction and the change in the traffic pattern are expected to last through spring of 2023.The goal of these living shorelines is to stop or at least slow the erosion that at times has threatened to undermine the artificial island supporting the bridges that carry Highway 24 between Carteret and Onslow counties. So, what is a Living Shoreline? A living shoreline is a way to enhance shoreline stability by creating sustainable coastal connections between land and water using natural materials such as plants, sand, or rock. Unlike a concrete seawall or other hard structure, which impedes the growth of plants and animals, living shorelines grow over time. Natural infrastructure solutions like living shorelines provide wildlife habitat, as well as natural resilience to communities near the waterfront.
Living shorelines are sometimes referred to as nature-based, green, or soft shorelines. They are an innovative and cost-effective technique for coastal management. In Swansboro, living shoreline work will be completed on the artificial island and causeway that is located between the two N.C. 24 bridges. The causeway along the northeast side of N.C. 24 has experienced severe erosion, a result of previous storms as well as severe undercutting, a direct result of Hurricane Florence in 2018. The abutment along the northwest end of the island and the abutment at the southeast end of the island are also showing serious signs of erosion. When completed early next year, there are to be three living shorelines, which use rock and/or shells and aquatic vegetation to reduce wave action and prevent further erosion, the kind exacerbated by using traditional hard structures like bulkheads and seawalls along the causeways. This project is part of NCDOT’s efforts to make more than 500 miles of coastal roads resilient to storms using nature-based solutions. A corollary benefit to constructing these Living Shorelines will be enhanced water quality. The entire project is expected to cost $3.6 million. Highway 24, in addition to providing a conduit for tens of thousands of vacationers and residents, is especially important because it is the route Marines use to get equipment and personnel from Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville to the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock and to the State port in Morehead City. Flooding of the road has at times buckled the north side of N.C. 24 in Cedar Point, and there has been at least one sink hole in recent years. So, this Living Shoreline stabilization project cannot be completed soon enough.
Living shorelines are both beautiful and practical. They add attractive, low-maintenance green space and their services to the environment—which also benefit people—include purifying water, buffering floods, reducing erosion, storing carbon, and attracting wildlife to habitat. Plenty of evidence shows that during major storms, such as Hurricane Florence in 2018, a living, natural shoreline performs better than a hardened shoreline. Living shorelines or soft structures preserve coastlines by reducing and dissipating wave energy rather than reflecting it, like hard structures such as bulkheads. Living shorelines also reduce the scraping away of salt marsh wetlands by wave action. And, by incorporating salt marsh grasses and oysters in a living seashore, not only are shorelines protected from erosion but also fish and shellfish habitats are enhanced through improved water quality. Finally, Living or soft shorelines are less expensive to construct as well as maintain compared to hard shorelines. In North Carolina, ballpark, living shorelines made with bags of recycled oyster shells are about $75 per foot and those made with granite rock are about $350 per foot. Over 500 miles, that adds up to considerable savings to North Carolina’s tax payers. To learn more about Living Shorelines and protecting the coastal environment along the Crystal Coast, please go to my website, www.EmeraldIsleHomesforSaleNC.com and sign up for my blog. Ready to buy or sell? Call me at 919-308-2292. Explore the video tab for my weekly uploads to my YouTube channel. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and receive free donuts at my Flip Flops Donut shop. Text your email address to 919-308-2292 and subscribe to my newsletter. My book, "Live Where You Vacation" is available on Amazon.com or at Kindle.
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