Installation of New Ferry Toll Booths Begins Monday

The booths will be in place at the Cherry Branch, Minnesott Beach and Bayview ferry terminals. 

On the Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach run across the Neuse River, tolls will be collected on each side of the route because of its high number of riders. The vast majority of riders on the Bayview-Aurora route across the Pamlico River are commuters and traffic volume is significantly lower, so tolls for customers going in either direction will only be collected on the Bayview side. 

In order to save money in the construction costs of the booths and signs for the new tolling facilities, Ferry Division employees completed all the work in-house. The cost per booth for the construction and installation, plus credit-card processing equipment and signage is $66,791. 

A mandate from the General Assembly in 2011 required the Ferry Division to increase its annual toll revenue by $5 million by increasing rates on the three routes that already had tolls (Southport-Fort Fisher, Swan Quarter-Ocracoke and Cedar Island-Ocracoke), and begin tolling on two previous free routes (Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach, and Bayview-Aurora) by April 1, 2012. By law, the Hatteras-Ocracoke and Currituck-Knotts Island routes remain free.

However, in February 2012, former Governor Bev Perdue issued an executive order placing a one-year moratorium on the collection of the tolls. The General Assembly later directed DOT to disregard the executive order and lifted the moratorium, putting the tolling back into effect for July 1, 2013.

During its January 2013 meeting, the N.C. Board of Transportation adopted a resolution authorizing the Secretary of Transportation to adopt rules establishing ferry tolls (see attached file for proposed rates). That process requires a change in the state’s administrative code.

As part of that procedure, public hearings regarding the tolling were held in Grantsboro, Ocracoke and Raleigh in March. The official public comment period regarding the changes ends on Tuesday, April 16, hoever, comments can still be submitted online at Contact Us, by fax at (919) 733-9150 or mail at APA Coordinator, 1501 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1501. The public comments will be reviewed and submitted to the Rules Review Commission with the Office of Administrative Hearings.