NC Ferry System Begins Emergency Route Service

Wednesday, December 4, 2013 - 03:16 Press Release

The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division began operating its emergency ferry route between Stumpy Point and Rodanthe with limited service Tuesday night, and will begin a full schedule of runs on Wednesday, due to the closure of the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge on Tuesday afternoon.

The division will be using four 180-foot River Class vessels to run the route, which takes two hours to complete. Maximum capacity will allow 760 single cars to cross each day, 380 from each side.

On Tuesday, there will be departures from Rodanthe at 6 p.m. and midnight, and from Stumpy Point at 9:30 p.m. and 3:30 a.m. Starting Wednesday, the regular Stumpy Point-Rodanthe schedule will be as follows:

Departing Stumpy Point at 5 a.m., 6:30, 8, 9:30, 11, 12:30p.m., 2, 3:30, 5, & 9:30.
Departing Rodanthe at 6 a.m., 7:30, 9, 10:30, Noon, 1:30p.m, 3, 4:30, 6, & 7:30.

In addition, residents of Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands, as well as emergency personnel and vendors, will have tolls waived on Pamlico Sound routes between Ocracoke-Cedar Island and Ocracoke-Swan Quarter.

Unfortunately, the boats and crews needed for the emergency route will also mean fewer boats and crews for the Hatteras-Ocracoke route. The new schedule on that route, effective immediately, is as follows:

Departing Ocracoke: 5 a.m., 7, 9, 11, 1 p.m., 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.
Departing Hatteras: 6 a.m., 8, 10, Noon, 2 p.m., 4, 6, 8, 10, and midnight.

Loading for the emergency ferry-route is on a first-come, first-served basis, but Dare County Emergency Management has the ability to establish priority loading procedures if the need arises.

Editor's note: if you are on the 9:30pm Stumpy Point ferry, you can't make it to Hatteras by midnight. Call 252-986-2353 and ask them to hold it 'til 12:30am when you can get there.