Public Transportation Aids in Mobility during Bridge Closure in Tyrrell and Dare Counties

A 90-mile detour may sound daunting for a trip that would normally only take a few miles to drive, but when the Alligator River Bridge on U.S. 64 at the Tyrrell and Dare County line was scheduled to be closed in April, a 90-mile detour was the only option available…. or was it?

The Alligator River Bridge was closed from Tuesday, April 2, through Monday, April 15, so crews could replace several mechanical parts under the swing span portion of the bridge that had worn due to years of regular use. By closing the bridge for 13 days to make these repairs, NCDOT hoped to reduce the chance of a future long-term closure of the bridge.

To help people who live on the Tyrrell County side of the bridge, but work on the Dare County side, NCDOT worked closely with Inter-County Public Transportation Authority (ICPTA) and Hyde County Transit to set up daily shuttle services in the mornings and evenings, making the trip easier for those who depend on the bridge to get to and from work.

In order to build routes that would serve the most people, NCDOT worked with the transit systems and Tyrrell County to determine the hours most people who would use the service worked, as well as their places of employment.  Two routes were set up to the outer banks: ICPTA provided service from NCDOT’s maintenance facility in Creswell, and Hyde County Transit provided service from Lake Mattamuskeet in Fairfield.

Funding from the Federal Transit Administration’s Job Access Reverse Commute grant program was used to fund the service, with NCDOT supplying the required 50 percent match.