The Beach Road

Despite the problems and pressures, Governor Cherry moved ahead to fulfill his promise. It soon became clear that construction of the road would be more complex than many had imagined.

Cherry tried to link road construction with school consolidation. ''If Dare County will provide these communities with a modern high school, I will guarantee that there will be a road for the school buses to operate over,'' Cherry said.

Locals cried foul. Consolidation had never been a part of the bargain before, they countered, and there was little chance of getting those in Avon and Hatteras to agree to anything, much less sending their children to be schooled under the same roof.

The islanders said that those who had Cherry's ear should have known better, and that perhaps they did. They kept up the pressure for a no-strings project.

Cherry finally acquiesced, and plans for the project moved forward.

Construction costs were going to be significant. No one felt that the entire project could be completed in one phase. But where to begin was a prickly subject. A road to a section of the island would give the villages served an advantage.

While the islanders might not have been counted on to agree to school consolidation, they at least needed to agree on where the construction should begin.

Surprisingly, they did.

The new road was to proceed in sections. Planners let the islanders decide where the first sections of road would be placed. The villagers of Hatteras, Frisco, Buxton and Avon - 2,200 strong - opted for work to connect Hatteras and Avon. Then two other segments, from Avon to Rodanthe, and then Rodanthe to the inlet, would be completed.

Work began in Hatteras and headed north. The harbor at Hatteras was the best place to unload heavy equipment and supplies.

More than 17 miles linking Hatteras and Avon were completed in 1948. Another 18-mile section joining Avon and Rodanthe was finished in l952. The final leg was completed in 1953.

''Naturally, a highway to such a special place would be kind of special,'' Sharpe wrote. ''And the highway being built from Oregon Inlet to the village of Hatteras is one of the most unique ever attempted. This one is being constructed according to specifications laid down by the wind and the sea. Contractors who have punctured mountains and spanned gorges soon learned that damp sand in a northeaster is more formidable than granite and space.''

The company selected for the project, Ballenger and Associates of Greenville, was ready to try. It was a formidable task. One of the principal problems was the elevation of the roadway.

If the road was built too high, roadbed would be undercut by the frequent overwash. If it was built too low, it would be covered by sand dunes.

As a result, the road was built as close to the natural contours of the land as possible. This allowed both sand and water to move easily across the road surface without damaging the highway.

Ballenger had a plan. The firm equipped the road with concrete shelves extending 12 feet past the road's edge. The shelves prevented the tide that flowed across the road during storms from undercutting important sections of the roadbed. Damage to the margins was incidental and could be repaired.