Highway 264 West of Washington, NC is Still Closed | Eastern NC Now

    On Sunday, October 3, 2010, we traveled to Greenville in a fine misty drizzle to visit our last little bird to leave the proverbial nest at East Carolina University; but our journey would not take us via Hwy. 264. The reason for our detour was the Tranters Creek Bridge under threat of being swamped by the rushing waters down the creek as a result of the 16 to 20 inches of rain that inundated the area after the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole passed through the area for more than two days in the preceding week.
    The bridge that acts as the fording agent across the water that separates Beaufort and Pitt counties is closed: Above and below.

    If we had been successful in making our way across that bridge with the flood waters gushing just 3 feet under the road bed of that bridge, we would have been stopped again just a few thousand feet further west on Hwy. 264, where the flood waters still covered the right-of-way near the intersection of Hwy. 264 and Grimesland Bridge Road. From a first hand perspective, I could well see the wisdom in turning the Mustang around and heading back east toward the Hwy 17 Bypass that would take me south to Hwy. 33 that would take me to Greenville, North Carolina.
    The quick water of Tranters Creek eddies as it flows south and east the the swollen Pamlico River: Above and below.

    The North Carolina Department of Transportation states that these two critical points of US Hwy 264 should be "passable early next week," as stated on October 4, 2010. Considering that the state's DOT website may not be current when information is so critical, one might hypothesize that they meant sometime this week since the water crested Saturday / Sunday of last week. Regardless of the DOT's antiquated information system, we here at Beaufort County Now provide have here below additional pictures that were taken before noon on Sunday. You be the judge as to the progress of Tranters Creek cresting.
    The water is just under the bridge's roadbed - looking both west and east respectively: Above and below.