September 20, 2010





The N. C. Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division will have to hold off running its larger river-class ferries in Hatteras Inlet a little longer. Mechanical failure shut down the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dredging project to fix the shoaling problem left in Hurricane Earl’s wake.
 
Smaller Hatteras-class ferries are still running on the hour and making extra trips to reduce wait times. Officials hope to resume dredging by Tuesday evening or early Wednesday morning.
 
Commuters could experience some delays until the dredging is complete.
 
NCDOT discovered the shoaling problem at Hatteras Inlet Wednesday, Sept. 15, preventing the larger ferries from running.  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was brought in to dredge the channel, but was forced to stop Saturday because of equipment failure.
 
For up-to-date information, call 1-800-293-3779 (BY-FERRY) and Press 1 or visit NCDOT Ferry at www.ncdot.gov/ferry/. In addition, follow news updates about ferry projects at twitter.com/ncdot_ferry.

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September 17, 2010



The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division discovered a shoaling problem at Hatteras Inlet Wednesday, Sept. 15, that is preventing it from making extra runs for safety reasons, because the larger river-class ferries used for these runs are at risk of running aground.

The shoaling was apparently caused by winds and tides from Hurricane Earl’s passage offshore on Sept. 3.

Wednesday and Thursday, the Hatteras route has been running four Hatteras-class boats, which are smaller, non-stop to keep up with the high volume of traffic.
 
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been contacted and is working to acquire the proper permits to begin the dredging process. It could take between 24 smf 36 hours to get the permits in place.
 
Ferry Division officials say that within 48 hours they expect to be back to normal running four Hatteras ferries and two river-class ferries.

In the meantime, travelers can expect delays at this location.

The Division will continue to run its summer schedule, which normally changes after Labor Day, as long as the traffic demands.
 
According to recent traffic reports, the Ferry Division carried 3,000 more vehicles and 9,000 more passengers this August than last year at the Hatteras-Ocracoke route. At all seven routes, 10,000 more vehicles and 23,000 more people were transported this August than August 2009.
 
For up-to-date information, call 1-800-293-3779 (BY-FERRY) and Press 1, go to www.ncferry.org or sign up for updates or “tweets” at www.twitter.com/ncdot_ferry.

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