Public comments were encouraged at two open-house-style meetings that shared potential solutions to the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry’s troublesome South Dock terminal, and June 6 marks the last day that folks who were unable to attend either meeting can comment online.
Over the years, the ferry terminal at the northern end of Ocracoke Island has been subjected to several erosion-driven and accelerating issues. The stacking lanes and public restrooms have been eroded to the point that the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has to pump out the wastewater from the restrooms every week, as the drainage field has gotten too close to the water’s edge.
In addition, a stretch of N.C. Highway 12 on the northern section of the island now borders the beach, with just a line of sandbags protecting the highway from the ocean. When storms of any size occur, the road is repeatedly flooded with ocean overwash, forcing residents and visitors to time their ferry departures to coincide with low tide cycles.
These problems are not new, and solutions for saving or relocating the South Dock ferry terminal have been explored before, and most recently in a years-long effort by the N.C. 12 Task Force.
This group of various stakeholders, which released its findings in 2023, studied seven vulnerable sections of N.C. Highway 12 from Oregon Inlet to Hatteras Inlet, and found that the roadway on northern Ocracoke Island was the most problematic when it came to finding a cost-effective and actionable short-term or long-term solution.
With these issues in mind, NCDOT contracted HDR, Inc. to conduct a feasibility study to explore the best ways forward for Ocracoke Island’s South Dock.
After months of research and work, HDR came up with four possible solutions, which were unveiled at the back-to-back Hatteras and Ocracoke public meetings on May 21-22.
“We’re here to get public feedback on different options for what could happen with the ferry service to Ocracoke,” said John “Jed” Dixon, Director of NCDOT’s Ferry Division. “All of this is conceptual. There is no funding, no permits, and no decisions have been made on any of these options. But the reason we’re looking at options now, and asking for public feedback, is just the number of changes taking place in that area, and how it’s affecting our terminal in Ocracoke. It’s time to start planning for the future, whatever that is.”
Two of the options redirect the vehicular ferry route from northern Ocracoke Island to the heart of Ocracoke Village. In these two concepts, docks for the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry will be stationed close to the existing Ocracoke-mainland ferry terminal, at the southernmost end of N.C. Highway 12.
While this new location could provide much better protection against erosion than South Dock’s current locale, there would be a number of hefty changes required to make these two concepts come to fruition, starting with the type of ferry that would be required.
“Sound class vessels are a different size than the Hatteras class, and currently Hatteras vessels can’t dock [in Ocracoke Village], so changing the route, and the ferries, is going to require capital expenditure,” said John Rouse, Federal Transportation and Maritime Sector Lead at HDR.
Maintenance dredging could also be a continual challenge for a new ferry channel, and the longer route would naturally translate into longer travel times and fewer crossings per day.
“It would be a pretty big difference,” said Dixon. “The route we’re running right now is about an hour and 10 minutes. That [Ocracoke Village] route would probably be around two hours and 15 minutes.”
A meet-in-the-middle concept that relocates South Dock a few miles south and close to the National Park Service’s Pony Pens is another option that is up for consideration.
This soundside site, referred to as Devil Shoals, would bypass the vulnerable section of N.C. Highway 12 that repeatedly floods, but would run into similar hurdles to the Ocracoke Village options when it comes to cost, travel time, and ferry channel creation and maintenance.
The final option is to leave South Dock exactly where it is at the northern end of the island, with some upgrades and changes.
The ferry stacking lanes would be altered so that traffic wouldn’t back up on N.C. Highway 12, and adjustments would likely need to be made to other aspects of the site, like the addition of a terminal groin or hardened structure around South Dock to protect it from further erosion. (Hardened structures are not permitted on North Carolina’s beaches, but special variances can sometimes be acquired after a lot of red tape wrangling.)
Of course, if South Dock is left at its current spot, an additional project to elevate, move, or otherwise protect N.C. Highway 12 on northern Ocracoke Island would be a necessity.
Although leaving South Dock right where it is may be the least expensive option, and maintains the current 70-minute travel time, there are inherent risks.
“Keeping it in place, you’ve got the issue with the inlet migrating towards the south,” said Rouse. “How long will we be able to maintain the site? I’ve heard comments from a lot of people that we’re one storm away from the terminal being permanently damaged.”
Any of the four options would require a lot of work, time, and money to move forward. Dixon said that NCDOT would try to secure federal funds, state funds, and/or grant funds to cover the project, and permits from multiple agencies would also have to be secured.
“Personally, I think it will be a combination of [funding sources],” said Dixon. “One other issue is that we’re dealing with the park service with any of these options. This is park service property, so we have to get their input, and they want to hear what the public has to say before they weigh in.”
All of these financial and regulatory details will need to be ironed out, eventually. But for now, the NCDOT and its partners just want to know which option or options the public prefers, so they can have a clearer path for the work ahead.
“The public input is very important to the ultimate decision,” said Dixon. “We’ll take the comments and factor those into these concepts, and that could end up in the modification of a certain concept, or even a new, fifth or sixth concept.”
“I can’t give a date on when this gets done, because it’s all dependent on the option, the permits, and the funding,” said Dixon. “But the need is there, and the situation is reaching a critical level.”
How to contribute to the public comments:
Public comments are being accepted until June 6, 2025, and can be submitted online at https://www.publicinput.com/southdock.
The subsidy for the obsolete ferry would be more than enough by itself to pay for a bridge between Hatteras Village and the Pony Pen, and that’s without a toll that could literally pay for the whole thing, with an annual pass for islanders.
Any other discussion is just not realistic in 2025. The shoaling and erosion problems are not going to get any better and a two hour plus ferry ride from Hatteras Village is just ridiculous.
Why this ferry ride is free is also beyond me. None of the other ferries to Ocracoke are free, and those are the ones predominantly used by islanders, versus the Hatteras Ferry, which is almost all tourists. The free ferry is an obsolete relic of another era, and it’s time for a bridge to Ocracoke.