20091224 Ver 1_Information Letter_20091221

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North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural
Division of Coastal Management
Beverly Eaves Perdue James H. Gregson
Governor Director
December 17, 2009
MEMORANDUM:
TO:
Division of Water Quality
FROM: Doug Huggett
Major Permits Processing Coordinator
SUBJECT: CAMA/DREDGE & FILL Permit Application Review
Applicant: NC DOT / B-3611
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Location: The project site is Bridge No. 77 over Pantego Creek on NC 99, Beaufort
County.
Proposed Project: The applicant is proposing to replace the existing 1400' long bridge with a new
3352' low pre-stressed concrete girder bridge and associated infrastructure on
new alignment.
Please indicate below your agency's position or viewpoint on the proposed project and return this form by
1/08/2010. If you have any questions regarding the proposed project, please contact
Stephen Lane at [phone]. When appropriate, in-depth comments with supporting data are
requested.
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REPLY: This agency has no objection to the project as proposed` 2, ac/9i2,
2
This agency has no comment on the proposed project.
This agency approves of the project only if the recommended changes are
incorporated. See attached.
This agency objects to the project for reasons described in the attached comments.
SIGNED Z DATE 712 ?-12-14
400 Commerce Ave., ore gzd-__i?z -
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Phone: [phone] FAX: [phone] Int rnet: www.nccoastalmanaoement.net Ncort I Carr011/11?a
An Equal Opportunity \ Affirmative Action Employer `/?V7{?? ?yj(, all
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Circle One
DCM % DWQ %
Development Type Fee (14300160143510009316256253) (2430016024351000952341)
1. Private, non-commercial
development that does not involve _
the filling or excavation of any
wetlands or open water areas: $250 100%($250) 0% ($0)
II. Public or commercial. --
development that does not involve -
the filling or excavation of any,
- --
wetlands or open water areas: -. $400 100%($400) 0% ($0)
111. For development that involves
-
-
the filling and/or excavation of up " - - - _
to i acre of wetlands and/or open ,. _
water areas, determine if A,B, C,
'
'
or D below applies:. ... ... :.: ". .: :..
..;. "._ .. _
..:
III(A).. Private, -non-commercial's -
development, if General Water _
Quality Cenificalien No. 3490,: .
(See attached) can be applied: .$250 100% ($250) 0% (so)
110). Public or commercial -
development, if Gene rat Watet - -
Quality Certification No 3490. -
(See attached) can be applied: $400 % .100% ($400) 0% ($0) .
III(e)_ if General Water Quality ..
Certification No. 3490 (see ..
attached) could be applied, but
DCM staff determined that
additional review and wrilien
DWQ concurrence is needed -
because of concerns related to
water quality or aquatic life: $400 60% ($240) - - 40%($160)
-
III(D).If General Water Quality - .,
Certification No. 3490 (see - `- -
attached) cannot be applied' $400 60%($240) 40%($160)
tV, Development that involves the
filling andlor excavation of m
than one acre of wetlands a tl ' - -
open water areas: $475 60%($265) 400/.($190)
Check
Amount
PrDject
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DRISION OF COASTAL -MANAGEMENT
FIELD I\VESTIGATIO\ REPORT
APPLICANT'S NAtiIE: North Carolina Department of Trails rcrtai;on
LOCATION OF PROJECT SITE: The project is located at Bridge No. 77 over Pantego Creek on NC99
in Beaufort County (T.LP. No. B-3611).
Photo Index - 2006: 121-8444 (C-T, 10-20) 2000:121-1463 (D-T, 11-21)
State Plane Coordinates - X. 2,701058 Y: 660,741
Latitude: 35'32'33" N Longitude: 76'38'11"W
3. INVESTIGATION TYPE: CAN1.A and D&F
4. INVESTIGATIVE PROCEDURE: Date of Site Visit -November 24, 2009
Was Applicant Present - No
5. PROCESSING PROCEDURE: Application Received Complete: Novemberl7, 2009
Office- Morehead City
6. SITE DESCRIPTION:
(A) Local Land Use Plan - Beaufort County
Land Classification From LUP - Municipal District/Developed/Conservation
(B) AEC(s) Involved: PTW, PTA, CS, CW
(C) Water Dependent: Yes
(D) Intended Use: Public
(E) Wastewater Treatment: Existing - N/A
Planned - N/A
(F) Type of Structures: Existing - Bridge for public use
Planned - Bridge. for public use
(G) Estimated Annual Rate of Erosion: N/A
Source - N/A
7. HABITAT DESCRIPTION: [AREA]
EXCAVATED FILLED OTHER
(A) Open Water 68,825 sf Permanant Shading 87,046 sf
Temporary Shading 65,400 sf
(B) Coastal Wetlands 170 sf 5,105 sf Hand Clearing 20,038 sf
(C) Section 404 Wetlands . 30,239 sf 19,899 sf Hand Clearing 15,246 sf
(D) High Ground Disturbed by project 227,864s
f
(D) Total Area Disturbed: 539,832 sq. ft.
(E) Primary Nursery Area: No
(F) Water Classification: C; SW,NSW
Special Secondary Nursery Area: No
Open: No

8. PROJECT SUMMARY: The applicant proposes to replace the existing 1,400' long bridge on NC 99
over Pantego Creek with a new 3,352' long Pre-stressed Concrete Girder
bridge and associated infrastructure on new alignment.
FIELD INVESTIGATION REPORT:
N.C.D.O.T. - BRIDGE NO. 77 O,/-ER PANTE'GO CREFIK
PAGE 2
NARRATIVE D ISCRIPTIO`,:
Project Setting
Bridge No. 77 is located over Pantego Creek on NC99 near the Town of Belhaven in Beaufort
County. Typical elevations in the project area range from 0 to 5 feet above tl?e normal water level of
Pantego Creek. The northern boundary of the project is located within the town limits of Belhaven at
the intersection of US264 and NC99. NC99 then heads in a southwesterlv direction for
approximately 1,400' before arriving at a 70' x 450' rock armored causeway connecting to the
northern end of Bridge 77. Along this northern section of NC99, the property on both sides of the
road is currently vacant and vegetated in sod grass and pine trees with the exception of a gas station
located in the southwest quadrant of the intersection. Canals run parallel to each side of the road
beginning at 200' from the intersection. The canal on the east side of the road passes through a
culvert and becomes Public Trust Waters for approximately 700' before it intersects Pantego Creek.
The canal on the west side of the road is only intermittently connected to the creek and is not
classified as Public Trust Waters. Spartma patens and Cladium jamaicense line the edges of the
canals.
NC99 then passes over Pantego Creek on Bridge 77 and connects to the other side of the creek via
a 70'. x 345' rock armored causeway. NC99 continues along a grassed causeway in a southwesterly
direction for another 2,650' where the southern project boundary line is located. NC99 then
continues on towards the Town of Bath.
Canals also parallel both sides of the road in the southern section of this project. The canal on the
west side of the road is open to Pantego Creek and is classified as Public Trust Water along the
entire length of the canal. Spartirn np lens, Cladium jamaicense, and Iuncus. roemerianus can be
found in patches along the edge of this canal. The canal to the east of the southern section of the
road is not openly connected to Pantego Creek and not considered Public Trust Water. The land to
the west of this section of the road is a large expanse of marsh vegetated with the same species as
found in the canal. The land to the east of this section of the road is wooded, dominated by loblolly
pine trees, and includes areas of Coastal Wetlands along the shoreline of Pantego Creek with Section
404 Wetlands within the wooded tract.
The existing Bridge 77 was constructed in 1949, is 1,400' long, and 23.4' wide. The bridge has
22' of clear roadway width. The bridge is a fixed bridge consisting of thirty-five spans, with a
maximum of 32' horizontal distance between spans. The vertical clearance underneath the bridge is
13.2'. The superstructure consists of a reinforced concrete deck on steel I-beams. The bridge is
supported with reinforced concrete caps on timber piles. There is a wooden fender system and
navigational lighting located tinder the center of the bridge to guide boat traffic under the bridge.
There are no stormwater runoff controls on the brid-e, as the existing bridge deck drains directly into
Pantego Creek. A telephone conduit line is attached to the west side of the bridge and crosses over
Pantego Creek.
The bridge received 10.3 out of a possible 100 points during its last sufficiency rating. The bridge
is located on a rural major collector that is part of a designated NC Bicycling Highway, the NC-2
Mountains to Sea route. The annual average daily volume of traffic over the bridge was estimated to
be 6,520 vehicles per day in 2007.
Pantego Creek is classified SC; NSW by the Environmental Management Commission in the
area of the proposed construction. The creek is in the Tar-Pamlico River Basin and therefore subject
FIELD INVESTIGATION REPORT:
N.C.D.O.T. - BRIDGE i\ NO, 7? OVER PAIN'FEGO CREEK
PAGE ;#3
to the Tar-Pamlico River Basin Buffer Rules. Pa, reao Creek is classified by the North Carolina
Wildlife Resources Commission as Inland Waters bet has not been classified as a Primary Nursery
Area. The waters are closed to shellfishing by the Shellfish Sanitation Section of the D_ dsion of
Environmental Health. At the project site Pantego Creek is approximately 2;200' wide and has a
maximum water depth of -10' below Nly'IL in the channel. There were no SAV's observed in the
project area during the site visit.
Project Proposal
NCDOT proposes to replace the existing Bridge No. 77 over Pantego Creek. The project involves
the replacement of the existing bridge and related approaches with a pre-stressed concrete girder
bridge and new approaches on new location approximately 50' west of the existing location. The
applicant has designed the project to maintain traffic on the existing bridge as requested during the
public meetings for this project. To initiate project construction, a 1,440' long by 85' wide
temporary detour would be built on the south end of the existing bridge beginning at Sta. 20+60 and
ending around Sta. 35+00. The temporary detour route would be located 85' east of the existing
bridge (centerline to centerline) and would provide two lanes of travel with 22'of total pavement
width. The detour would require that a 722' section of the canal on the east side of the existing road
be filled and a temporary 24" x 100' culvert be installed for drainage. The detour constriction would
also require that 0.27 acres of Section 404 Wetlands be temporarily filled under and adjacent to the
detour.
To facilitate the construction of the bridge, a 30' wide x 3,555' temporary work bridge would be
built along the west side of the proposed bridge location. The work bridge would extend entirely
across the creek. The low chord of the temporary work bridge is proposed at 2' above Mean High
Water, except at the navigation channel where it would be 13.2' to maintain existing navigational
clearance. The new bridge as proposed would be 3,352' in length and 35' in width, which would be
approximately 1,952' longer and 11.6' wider than the existing bridge. The new bridge would consist
of thirty-eight spans with a maximum span of 92'. The bridge would include twenty-four bents
located within Pantego Creek, nine bents within the Public Trust Waters of the canal in the
southwest quadrant of the existing bridge, and six bents over wetlands and existing causeway. The
new bridge is also designed to allow 17' of vertical clearance underneath the bridge, which is an
increase of 3.8' above the existing 13.2' clearance height. The new bridge would have two 12' wide
travel lanes, with a 4' wide bicycle lane on each side.
NCDOT has committed to build the bridge with no deck drains over surface waters. The majority
of the stormwater from the bridge would be conveyed via a closed deck drainage system to grassed
swales that would be constructed on each side of the new bridge. The stormwater from the south
half of the bridge would flow from the bridge directly into a 3' base ditch lined with Class B riprap,
beginning at Sta. 28+00 and ending at Sta. 29+30, from there it would flow into the 3' base grassed
swale located between Sta. 29+30 and Sta. 32+00. The stormwater from the northern half of the
bridge would be collected in two grated drop inlets located at the base of the bridge. It would then be
conveyed by a 15" x 30' culvert into a 3' base grass swale located between Sta. 59+75 and Sta.
60+77. A grated drop inlet in conjunction with a 15" x 90' culvert has been proposed to convey
stormwater from one section of the bridge, located between Sta. 26+50 and Sta. 28+00, to the
proposed roadside ditch on the east side of the road. This ditch would be constructed between Sta.
17+25 and Sta. 27+25 and would have an 8' wide base and a minimum depth of 2S'.
11

FIELD INVESTIGATION REPO RI :
i,C.D.O.T. - BRIT)Gr NO. ^17 O' TR P:' NT-EGO CREEK
PAGE 44
To allow for the finer-Used height of the new bridge, tte applicant has requested to raise, widen,
and replace the approacl'_ struCtLU s to rile bridge. On the northern, approach the causeway grade
would be raised by up to 7' and the causewav, would be widened up to 95' at the base of the bridge.
This causeway construction would fill in approximately 850' of the non-navigable canal located on
the west side of the existing road. The northern base of the bridge is to be stabilized with 100' linear
feet of Class B riprap placed entirely above the normal water level. Drainage from the causeway is
to be carried away from the road by the proposed 6' base lateral ditch on the west side of the road.
The lateral ditch as proposed would be 298' in length, 30' in width, and approximately 4' deep.
On the southern end of the bridge, the grade would be raised up to 10' ve-tically and expanded
out to 110' wide with 3:1 slopes in wetland areas. The soil material for the expanded causeway
would permanently fill in the non-navigable canal on the east side of the existing road from Sta.
17+00 to Sta. 26+50 and a new roadside ditch would be constructed from Sta. 17+25 to Sta. 27+25.
The ditch would be approximately 2.5' deep, have an 8' base width, and would be 25' wide.
The road would then be replaced from Sta. 1.2+50 to Sta. 26+49 and from Sta. 60+01 to Sta.
72+33 with two 12' wide travel lanes with eight-foot shoulders, four foot of which would be paved.
New guardrails would be extended from the approaches to the bridge for 1,176' from the north side
of the bridge and 1,499' from the south side of the bridge where it would tie into the existing
guardrail.
The existing bridge would be completely demolished and removed from the project site utilizing
Best Management Practices for Bridge Demolition and Removal. The existing pavement would be
obliterated where unneeded at Sta 18+00 to Sta. 25+60, Sta. 28+00 to 40+70, and Sta. 54+70 to Sta.
66+00. The causeway would be excavated down to 4.0' from Sta. 28+00 to Sta. 34+00, however, it
would remain at existing grade from Sta. 34+00 to Sta. 37+55. A 345' section of the existing
causeway would be removed from the south side of the bridge from Sta. 37+55 to Sta. 41+00 down
to the adjacent elevations within Pantego Creek. The remaining end of the causeway would be
stabilized with 85 linear feet of Class II riprap.
The applicant has applied to leave the existing causeway on the north side of the bridge at the
request of the Town of Belhaven officials, due to extensive public use it receives for access to
Pantego Creek. The existing telephone lines and CATV lines attached to the west side of the
existing bridge, and on the causeway south of the bridge, are to be abandoned.
The applicant has applied for and received a state stormwater permit exclusion from the Division
of Water Quality, which issued State Stormwater Permit Exclusion SW7081018 for this project on
January 6, 2009.
Anticipated Impacts
The proposed bridge and associated causeways would fill 5,105 sq. ft. of Coastal Wetlands, and
require the excavation of 170 sq. ft. of Coastal Wetlands. It would also require 20,038 sq. ft. of
Coastal Wetlands be hand cleared, predominantly for the temporary work bridge. The relocation of.
the non-navigable canals for causeway expansion would require the excavation of 30,239 sq. ft. of
Section 404 Wetlands, and would fill 19,899 of Section 404 Wetlands, of which 11,761 sq. ft. would
be temporary. An additional 15,246 sq. ft. of Section 404 Wetlands would be hand cleared for the
project. Backfill in the non-navigable canals would fill in 68.825 sq. ft. of open water.
Approximately 7,212 sq. ft. of area within the Tar-Pamlico River Basin Riparian Buffer Area
adjacent to Pantego Creek would be impacted by the construction of the bridge and roadway, of
which 4,419 sq. ft. would be in Zone I and 2,793 sq. ft. would be in Zone Il.
ai
FIELD INVESTIGATION REPORT:
N.C.D.O.T. - B:RIT?OE NO.7? O :'ER P.?iTEGO CREc.,i
PAGE #5
---------------------------
The proposedbridge would permanently shade 87,046 sq. ft. of Public Tnist Waters, while the
work bridge woulo tempor r:lv shade an additional 65,400 sq. ft. of those waters. The n_-vigable
clearance under the bridge would increase by 3.8' from 13.2' to 17.0'. The bridge would also allow
an increase in the maximum navigational width from 32' to 92'. Existing navigational clearances
would be maintained under the temporary work bridge. Several bents of the new bridge would
extend across the entrance of the navigable canal in the southwest quadrant of the bridge and reduce
the navigational width from approximately 10' to 4' - 6'. The applicant has committed to keep this
minimum clearance between pilings to allow potential use of the canal by small vessels such as
canoes and kayaks.
The project would result in a total of 227,864 sq. ft. of high ground disturbance, including the
grading and paving of the new approaches to the bridge and the removal of the causeway on the
south side of the existing bridge.
The applicant has proposed to mitigate for the Coastal Wetland impacts by debiting 0.12 acres of
marsh creation credit from the Campbell Creek Mitigation Site in Beaufort County. The site is
approximately 14 miles south of the project site and is in the Tar-Pamlico River Basin, however, it
has not been formally approved by the agencies. The N.C. Ecosystem Enhancement Program has
accepted responsibility for providing rnitigation for the 38,333 sq. ft. of riparian wetland impacts as
indicated by their acceptance letter dated October 20, 2009.
A localized increase in turbidity can be expected during the in-water construction portion of the
new and temporary bridges, and the removal of the existing bridge. No additional closures of
shellfishing waters are expected in association with the proposed project. Impacts to anadromous
fish in Pantego Creek are expected to be minimal with the applicant's commitment to implement
NCDOT's Stream Crossina Guidelines for Anadromous Fish Passage and to avoid any in-water
work between the dates of February 15 to June 15 of any year.
A multitude of other efforts have been utilized to minimize and avoid impacts from this project
including but not limited to the use of 3:1 fill slopes in jurisdictional areas, the use of Design
Standards in Sensitive Watersheds, the use of hand clearing only in wetlands where practicable, and
the construction of a 1,952' longer bridge to minimize impacts to wetlands.
The public is expected to benefit upon completion of the project by the increase in the safety of
the new structure, more multi-modal use of the bridge withthe wider bicycle/pedestrian path on each
side of the bridge, and increased public access to Pantego Creek at the abandoned causeway adjacent
to the Town of Belhaven.

Submitted by: Stephen Lane -Morehead City District - December 14, 2009