20110023_Information Letter_20100616 (2)

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0 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission N
Gordon Myers, Executive Director
MEMORANDUM
TO: Melba McGee
Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, DENR
FROM: Travis Wilson, Highway Project Coordinator N z?-
Habitat Conservation Program
DATE: June 4, 2010
SUBJECT: North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Environmental
Assessment (EA) for the proposed replacement of Herbert C. Bonner Bridge; in Dare County,
North Carolina. TIP No. B-2500 SCH Project No. 10-0407.
Staff biologists with the N. C. Wildlife Resources Commission have reviewed the subject EA
and are familiar with habitat values in the project area. The purpose of this review was to assess
project impacts to fish and wildlife resources. Our comments are provided in accordance with
certain provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(c)) and the Fish
and Wildlife Coordination Act (48 Stat. 401, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 661-667d).
NCDOT proposes to replace the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge across Oregon Inlet in conjunction
with addressing problematic areas located on NC 12 from the southern terminus of the existing
bridge to the community of Rodanthe. The EA reflects prior coordination as well as information
provided during the NEPA/404 Merger planning process. New information contained in the
document is a result of this coordination and represents explicatory and supplemental
information to the September 17, 2008 Final Environmental Impact Statement.
The EA identifies a new preferred alternative; the Parallel Bridge Corridor with NC 12
Transportation Management Plan, this alternative serves to more accurately depict the future
implementation of the phased approach. Therefore our comments in response to the FEIS and
DEIS as they pertain to the impacts of the phased approach alternatives are still applicable to the
newly preferred alternative identified in the EA.
With the exception of an alignment shift on the southern terminus of the Phase I bridge and an
alignment shift on the southern bridge terminus at Rodanthe, impacts noted in the EA are
Mailing Address: Division of Inland Fisheries • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
a
B-2500
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June 4, 2010
consistent with those quantified in the FEIS. Increased impacts to natural resources as a result of
these shifts represent minimal augmentations to the potential environmental impacts of the
project as a whole.
This document does not provide any significant new information but more accurately presents
supplemental information to the FEIS; therefore we would like to take the opportunity to
reiterate our October 16, 2008 comments on the FEIS as well as our January 17, 2006 and March
16, 2007 SDEIS comments. At this time we anticipate continued participation in the 404/NEPA
Merger process for this project. Thank you for the opportunity to comment. If we can be of any
further assistance please call me at [phone].
cc: Gary Jordan, USFWS, Raleigh
Brian Wrenn, DWQ, Raleigh
Bill Biddlecome, USACE, Raleigh
Chris Militscher, EPA
Cathy Brittingham, DCM