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The Marc Basnight Bridge over Oregon Inlet in Dare County has been named 2020’s “Bridge of the Year” by American Infrastructure magazine.

The 2.8-mile bridge opened to traffic in February 2019.

“Not only is it a visually superior replacement to the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge,” the magazine says, “but it serves as a key hurricane evacuation route for the state.”

American Infrastructure also praised the engineers who designed and built the bridge for overcoming the harsh coastal environment and rapidly changing sea conditions to create a structure built to last 100 years.

The bridge previously earned the Project of the Year award from the American Society for Civil Engineers, an Award of Excellence from the American Segmental Bridge Institute and a Sustainable Design Award from the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute.

Basnight, the bridge’s namesake who served in the North Carolina Senate from 1984 until 2011 representing the 1^st District, died December 28.

The bridge was formally named for Basnight in an afternoon ceremony April 2, 2019. At that ceremony, Vicki Basnight read a letter from her father:

April 2019

You gather here today to honor me – but this naming belongs to many.

Early on there was a perception that we on the Outer Banks didn’t belong to anyone let alone Raleigh. A change slowly occurred when the many gathered to start building bridges with our brethren in Raleigh. With our convincing and at times fussy belief we were successful.

Bridges bring people together and never divide.

So, thanks to all people in the great state of North Carolina who helped make our bridge a new must see in America.

With much grateful love,

I thank you,

Marc

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