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The NCDOT Ferry Division says it will add two more runs this weekend to the Swan Quarter - Ocracoke ferry route, to make up for some of the delays caused by shoaling that has disrupted the busy Hatteras - Ocracoke ferry across Hatteras Inlet (see 5/8/12 story with reader comments).

On Saturday and Sunday, along with regular departures from Swan Quarter at 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., new departures will be added at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m.  In addition to the regular departures from Ocracoke at 7 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., new departures will be added at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected Saturday to start a two-week dredging operation to clear sand out of the Hatteras Inlet channel.

New permits required for driving on the beach at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore will cost vacationers and surf-casters $50 for a week or $120 for a year,  the National Park Service says.

New restrictions on beach driving take effect Feb. 15 for the seashore, which includes the beaches from south of Nag's Head to Ocracoke.  Besides requiring permits for drivers, the park service now puts limits on the locations of beach routes that will be available -- some of them only from Nov. 1 through March 31 -- for off-road vehicles. (See 1/21/12 story and 2/2/12 story with reader comments.)

The permits will be available at three locations: Bodie Island at the north end of the Coquina Beach parking lot, Hatteras Island at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and Ocracoke at the National Park Service visitor center.

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New limits on beach driving will take effect Feb. 15 at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the National Park Service said today.  Off-road drivers will be required to buy permits that would add up to $50 to the cost of a week at the beach. [1/21/12 update: see today's story with reader comments.]

The park service had promised to develop new rules for off-road vehicle use along the seashore when it settled a lawsuit filed by environmental groups seeking protections for endangered turtles and shorebirds that nest on the beach.  Seashore visitors who take their cars onto the beach to fish, watch birds or get away from the crowds will be required to watch an instructional video and buy a permit. 

A park service spokeswoman said the fees, to be announced in the next week or two, will be set somewhere between $90 and $150 for a one-year permit and between $30 and $50 for a seven-day permit.  The park service will update online and printed maps to with new information about times and locations were beach driving will be allowed.

The new rules were praised by officials with three environmental groups that sued the National Park Service in 2007.

"The park service's rules are a compromise that provides protections for both pedestrians and wildlife while still allowing responsible beach driving," Julie Youngman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a news release. Other parties in the lawsuit were Audubon North Carolina and Defenders of Wildlife.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore stretches for about 70 miles along the Outer Banks from south of Nag's Head to Ocracoke. The rules will be published Monday in the Federal Register (and are attached to this blog post, below, in a PDF file).

Documents:

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Ocracoke will reopen for business effective at 5 p.m. today, with tourists and other nonresidents allowed to return to the island for the first time since Hurricane Irene forced their evacuation.

Because visitors depend on ferry service from the mainland, their first chance to travel to Ocracoke won't come until Thursday morning, when the first ferries leave Swan Quarter and Cedar Island at 7 a.m.  The ban will still be in effect when the last ferries leave for Ocracoke today.

“The island looks great,” Hyde County Manager Mazie Smith said. “We want people to come visit Ocracoke. We have a lot of tourist season left, and we hope they will come back and visit.” ... [MORE]

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MANNS HARBOR — The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division announces it will begin running a set schedule at its Stumpy Point emergency route beginning Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011.

This route is for emergency responders and essential commodities only and is based on first-come, first-serve. A total of 7 vessels will be running on the route, the same number that is used during peak season. The crossing time to Rodanthe is 2 hours and the crossing time to Hatteras is 3.5 hours.

The Stumpy Point-Rodanthe schedule will be as follows:

* Departing Stumpy Point at 6:30 a.m., 8, 10, 10:30, 12:30 p.m., 2, 4 and 4:30; and

* Departing Rodanthe at 7 a.m., 9:30, 11, 1 p.m., 1:30; 3:30, 5 and 7:30.

The Stumpy Point-Hatteras schedule will be as follows:

* Departing Stumpy Point at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

* Departing Hatteras at 5:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Residents and property owners of Hatteras Island who have questions about reentry can call Dare County Emergency Management at 252-475-5655.

The Ferry Division will continue to run an amended Pamlico Sound schedule to take residents and emergency personnel to Ocracoke. Hyde County Emergency Management will allow only vehicles with a purple sticker or green sticker entry back onto the island, with purple stickers, emergency personnel, given priority.

Residents with a current valid driver’s license are also allowed. At this time, Hyde County is not allowing non-resident property owners or visitors onto the island. Those with questions about reentry to Ocracoke should call Hyde County Emergency Management at 252-926-4368.

The Cedar Island-Ocracoke schedule will be as follows:

* Departing Cedar Island at 7 a.m., 10, 1 p.m. and 3:30; and

* Departing Ocracoke at 7:30 a.m., 10, 1 p.m. and 3:30.

The Swan Quarter-Ocracoke schedule will be as follows:

* Departing Swan Quarter at 7 a.m., 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 4:30; and

* Departing Ocracoke at 6:30 a.m., 9:30, 12:45 p.m. and 4.

Currituck-Knotts Island, Southport-Fort Fisher and Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach routes are operating and are open to the public. The Cherry Branch route is experiencing some large debris obstacles in the Neuse River and may at times only run one boat and may not run after dark for safety reasons.

The Bayview-Aurora route is currently not operating due to electrical and structural problems with the ramps. The Hatteras-Ocracoke route will begin operating once sand is cleared off NC 12 from Ocracoke Village to the ferry dock.

The ferry reservations telephone line is currently out of service. Those travelers wishing to obtain a refund should wait until service is restored and a refund will be issued. Online reservations are also not being accepted.

Ferry information is available by calling 800-293-3779 (BY-FERRY) and pressing 1, or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ncdot_ferry.
 

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The state Department of Transportation Ferry Division has restored some public ferry service along the coast, but ferry access to Ocracoke and Hatteras islands today is limited to emergency responders.

Highway access to the two barrier islands was cut off when Hurricane Irene severed N.C. 12 in a few places on northern Hatteras Island this weekend. DOT opened an emergency ferry route to the island today from a dock at Stumpy Point, on the mainland side of Pamlico Sound.

Fuel trucks, telephone repair crews and DOT road maintenance workers were among the first passengers today for the 15-mile ride from Stumpy Point across Pamlico Sound to the Hatteras Island village of Rodanthe. ... [MORE]

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The little island of Ocracoke has won. In their new budget proposal, Senate Republicans agree with their House counterparts that the state’s busiest ferry, a 40-minute ride from Hatteras to Ocracoke, shall remain toll-free after all.

The budget proposal rolled out today would require the state Department of Transportation to start collecting tolls on two of the four ferries that are free now, both used heavily by commuters: the Neuse River ferry from Cherry Branch to Minnesott Beach, and the Pamlico River ferry from Bayview to Aurora.

There are reports that the new budget also makes changes in funding for rail transit in Charlotte and driver's education classes.

Senate leaders reversed themselves and agreed to keep both the Hatteras-Ocracoke and the less busy Currituck-Knotts Island ferries toll-free.  That matches the House conclusion that both Ocracoke and Knotts islands deserve a toll-free connection to the mainland. ... [MORE]

Senate Republican leaders said today they want to spend much more money on bridge repair and highway maintenance -- and to slash state spending for transit and turnpike projects.

But, while both the House and Senate budgets would reduce other taxes in several areas, Senate leaders said they had not decided whether to take action to prevent a sharp increase in the state gas tax scheduled to take effect in July.

The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee today received, but was not allowed to vote on, a proposed two-year transportation budget (see documents attached to this post) that would make some big changes in budget proposals offered by Gov. Bev Perdue and the House of Representatives.

The Senate would:

• Kill the $660 million Mid-Currituck Bridge toll project for the Currituck Outer Banks and the $870 million Garden Parkway in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties. [Update: See 5/25/11 story.]... [MORE]

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The ferry toll fight is not over for Ocracokers.

Senate Republicans are expected next week to propose that the state collect tolls on all four ferry routes that now are free – including the Hatteras-Ocracoke and Currituck-Knotts Island ferries – and to increase toll rates on three other ferries. The changes would be written into the Senate’s version of the budget.

“The tolls have been fairly low, and they're just trying to get them up closer to what would be reflective of the current cost of service,” said Sen. Neal Hunt, a Raleigh Republican who co-chairs the Senate Budget Committee. “Not trying to cover the entire cost, but just a little bit more of it.”

The Republican-led House agreed a few weeks ago in its budget proposal to keep the Knotts Island and Hatteras-Ocracoke ferries toll-free. Ferries provide the only link between the two islands and the North Carolina mainland. Ocracokers protested that it would be unfair to make residents and visitors start paying. ... [MORE]

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Accepting the same rationale that was used last week to benefit riders on the busy Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry, the House voted 115-1 this morning to keep the less busy Currituck - Knotts Island ferry toll-free.

So two routes that carry one-third of all ferry traffic will not be tolled. That'll make it harder for NCDOT to offset a $10 million cut in state ferry spending.

House leaders originally planned to require that DOT collect tolls on all four routes that are free now: Hatteras-Ocracoke, Currituck-Knotts Island, Bayview-Aurora, and Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach. 

Tolls also would have to be increased on the three routes where riders pay now:  Southport - Fort Fisher (now $5 per car) and Cedar Island-Ocracoke and Swan Quarter-Ocracoke (both now $15 per car).

They made an exception last week to preserve a toll-free link to the mainland for Ocracoke Islanders on the Hatteras ferry, which carries more than 300,000 vehicles a year.

The Knotts Island ferry, which handles 25,000 vehicles a year, got the same deal in a House floor vote today. ... [MORE]