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NAGS HEAD (AP) — Officials are discussing whether a new environmental study will be needed as North Carolina plans to replace an aging bridge that links sections of the Outer Banks.

State and federal officials met last week to discuss whether the state Transportation Department will need a new study when it seeks a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep a jetty built in 1989 to protect the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge.

"It's really not an issue whether they get a permit," said Mike Bryant, manager of Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge where the jetty is located. "It is an issue of what are going to be the conditions of the permit."

Bryant said the officials agreed that a small panel of scientists should examine existing data and recommend conditions for a new permit, which hasn't been requested yet.

The Virginian-Pilot reported Sunday the possible delay comes as a final environmental impact statement on the bridge construction is nearing publication.

The bridge links the northern Outer Banks and Hatteras Island. The bridge over Oregon Inlet was built in 1963. Planning for replacement began in 1990 but the

process has been slowed by environmental challenges and disagreements over the route for the new bridge, estimated to cost more than $1 billion to build and maintain.

Construction is expected to start next spring and could be completed in 2014.

State transportation officials met Friday for about three hours with the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the wildlife service to discuss whether a study will be needed if the state asks for a new jetty permit, which is anchored on federal land.

"I guess at this point, we're trying to determine the best course of action to move it forward," said state DOT engineer Jerry Jennings. "I think there's certainly a better understanding as to what's needed and what the process would be to allow the (jetty) to remain."

North Carolina's transportation department said last year it would rebuild the bridge in a phased approach. The process involves building a short bridge that is parallel to the existing one across the inlet. After that, a series of small bridges and beach rebuilding will be done on the road south of the inlet.

A draft environmental impact statement for the project assumes the jetty, which is an enormous rock wall on the south side of the inlet, will remain in place.

The jetty was approved 20 years and the permit said it must be removed if the bridge no longer was in place.