Lawmakers order Outer Banks passenger ferry to resume, despite concerns about COVID-19
The N.C. Department of Transportation announced two months ago that it had scrapped plans to operate a passenger ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands this summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The department reasoned that a passenger ferry designed to carry more than 100 people between the two islands could be ripe for spreading the coronavirus.
But now the General Assembly has moved to reverse that decision. Included in a 23-page bill on NCDOT spending and policy is a provision that directs the department to operate the ferry this summer. The bill, which also cut half a billion dollars in transportation spending because of lower tax revenue, provides more than $1.1 million to lease and operate the boat.
The catamaran-style passenger ferry is still available, though it’s currently in New Jersey where its owner, Seastreak Marine, is based, said NCDOT spokesman Jamie Kritzer. NCDOT rented the M/V Martha’s Vineyard Express from the company last summer and operated it as the Ocracoke Express, which carried more than 28,600 people in its inaugural season.
NCDOT will wait for Gov. Roy Cooper to sign the transportation bill before it moves to bring the ferry down from New Jersey, Kritzer said. It would likely take two weeks to get the boat in North Carolina, inspected and ready to make its first run, he said.
The state also needs to determine how many passengers it can safely allow on the boat at a time. To prevent the spread of coronavirus, NCDOT would likely cap the number of passengers below the boat’s capacity and encourage people to wear masks and remain six feet from people they aren’t traveling with.
“We would put in place all the social distancing measures we have in place on car ferries,” Kritzer said, with one exception: People can’t remain in their cars on the Ocracoke Express.
The Ocracoke Express was conceived as an alternative to the car ferries that run between the two islands, after shoaling in Hatteras Inlet forced the state to take a longer route into Pamlico Sound, adding 20 minutes to a one-way trip and reducing the number of runs each day. The state spent several million dollars to build additional parking on Hatteras and a new floating dock and passenger shelter at Silver Lake in Ocracoke Village.
If Cooper signs the bill, the Ocracoke Express would operate through Labor Day.
