Permit meeting set for Bonner Bridge

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Now that the federal government has signed off on a replacement for the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge, North Carolina is wasting no time in getting started.

The state Department of Transportation has scheduled its first permit meeting on the project for Jan. 4. The agency hopes to have the permitting process wrapped up by the summer.

A tentative timeline would see construction start in the spring of 2012 and wrap up in 2015. The new bridge is expected to cost roughly $300 million.

The Bonner Bridge is the only way to get to Hatteras Island by land. The deteriorating span is a major corridor for both hurricane evacuations and tourism.

When the bridge was first opened in 1963, it was designed to last for 30 years.