Author Topic: Atlantic Coast - In the area of Bogue Sound  (Read 5204 times)

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Offline neil

Atlantic Coast - In the area of Bogue Sound
« on: July 24, 2015, 12:47:36 pm »
19 years ago we tandemmed up the East Coast using the excellent Mountaineers book. This was before Adventure Cycling routed it.
Roll on 19 years and I take cyclists from England all over the world, but do a USA tour once a year. Next year I intend doing Wilmington to Washington so have Atlantic Coast map 4 to look at.

Does anyone know why from Swansboro the route follows the busy route 24 to loop through Newport, effectively cycling north of Bogue Sound?

The alternative is to take route 58 going along the Emerald Isle, recrossing the sound, heading through Morehead City and Beaufort to take route 70 to rejoin at Bettie?

There are other anomolies too. Instead of taking the road through Fort Lejeune, it heads through Jacksonville which is awfully busy

There are other smaller ones too. Coming into Swainsboro along route 1434 the route joins the busier route 24 earlier than it could

 It's all a bit odd and to me the book has a far better route.

      Neil


Offline litespeed

Re: Atlantic Coast - In the area of Bogue Sound
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2015, 03:16:20 pm »
When I go up the east coast I stay at the excellent Forestry Service campground in Cedar Point then go to the Cedar Island - Ocracoke ferry. I hammered fairly hard to make the 3:30 ferry on my last time there. In Ocracoke I stay at the little campground a few blocks from the ferry dock.

I guess you could go over the causeway from Cape Carteret and through Emerald Isle and Atlantic Beach to the causeway back to Morehead City. I have never tried it and have no idea how bicycle friendly the two causeways are. I never had any problems on that stretch of 24 and US70.

The motels in Morehead City are surprisingly overpriced and crummy. Avoid staying there.

The road through Camp Lejeune was closed to through traffic after 9/11. You could call the chamber of commerce in, say, Jacksonville and ask if this is still the case. It was closed the last time I went through a few years ago. I also had no problems looping by Jacksonville except for the depressing clot of tacky businesses along 24 ripping off the servicemen.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2015, 09:42:12 am by litespeed »

Offline greenbubba

Re: Atlantic Coast - In the area of Bogue Sound
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2015, 09:28:31 pm »
Can't say that I can answer why, but my guess would be traffic. Though 24 and 70 are pretty busy as well. The 58 route is busy during the summer, but has nice shoulders for most of the island and a paved 'greenway' trail for pedestrians and bicycles for portions of the island. I prefer the road since the greenways are slower due to pedestrians and intersections. The southern bridge is two lanes with very wide shoulders. It' typically suitable for bikes, but there occasionally is debris on the shoulder. It is also a very high bridge with a low guardrail. Google street view gives you a pretty good idea of both bridges and 58 (though not the summer traffic). You should look on NC DOT's web site - NC has a bike route program. I'm sure they would be happy to help. I'll check myself tomorrow.
charlie

Offline DanE

Re: Atlantic Coast - In the area of Bogue Sound
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2015, 03:20:15 pm »
The route through Camp LeJeune is permanently closed I suspect as long as we have the current situation with terrorism in this world. I believe that if you have the proper military credentials you can still travel that way, but for most of us that isn't the case.