Ramp 48 and 1-mile of Inside Road will open on Nov. 23

The National Park Service will open the new off-road vehicle Ramp 48 and a 1-mile section of the new “Inside Road” in Frisco with a small ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 23.

The opening of  Ramp 48 and the 1-mile section of the new Inside Road will facilitate ORV access to a stretch of beach in time for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and for fall fishing visitors to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. 

Anyone interested in attending the ribbon cutting ceremony should meet at the parking area adjacent to the Billy Mitchell Airstrip near Frisco at 10:45 a.m. on Monday.

Ramp 48 is the third of several beach access projects planned for the seashore’s future and marks the third time in a little over two years the park has expedited construction to increase the number of facilities for improved access to the beaches of the seashore.  The Inside Road will eventually connect Ramps 48 and 49 in Frisco with the ramps in the Buxton area, so that vehicles can pass behind closed areas of the beach.  The remaining section of the Inside Road will open soon after construction is completed this winter. 

The opening of Ramp 32, with an accompanying new beach trail, was completed in August 2015 and Ramp 25, with adjacent handicap accessible boardwalk, was completed in September 2014.  Planning for these projects was completed in an Environmental Assessment in 2012 that gave consideration to new parking areas, paved and two unpaved roads, ORV ramps, foot paths, ADA accessible boardwalks, and the elevation of an existing flood-prone road section. 

One more project to provide more vehicle access, Ramp 63 on Ocracoke Island, is scheduled to begin this winter.