Ocracoke Island is facing major erosion around the busy ferry terminal that connects it to Hatteras. But proposals to move the ferry docks are facing opposition.
Drivers waiting on the ferry from Ocracoke to Hatteras can't line up in the original stacking lanes anymore, because the asphalt there has crumbled into the ocean. And the road connecting the ferry terminal to the village frequently floods even without severe weather. In some places, only sandbags protect the road from the ocean's waves.
That's prompted the N.C. Department of Transportation to study its options, including the idea of moving the Hatteras ferry to Ocracoke Village or to build new docks in the middle of the island. Jed Dixon is director of DOT's ferry division.
"We are up against a ticking clock, and in any given year we could lose a section of the roadway or even the terminal itself," he said.
But a survey of possible solutions, presented to the State Board of Transportation this week, found that most people want the ferry terminal to stay where it is. Hyde County Manager Kris Noble says moving the terminal would mean more than two hours to get to Hatteras.
"We can't stand two and a half (hours)," Noble said. "Nobody can, and I know we choose to live where we live, but I also believe that this island shouldn't be abandoned."
DOT is now studying whether to build a sea wall known as a terminal groin to protect the existing ferry terminal. But Dixon stressed that no decisions have been made yet.
"We don't have any funding," he said. "We don't have any permits for any of these different concepts, so this is all conceptual. None of this has been decided."
Noble said local leaders would like to see efforts to stabilize the existing ferry docks and do a beach renourishment project to protect N.C. 12.
"Those two things in tandem, I believe, can buy us at least 10 years, but we have to start right now," she told transportation officials.
