RODANTHE, N.C. — Travelers headed to or from Rodanthe and the rest of Hatteras Island get a new option starting Monday: they can park, board a county shuttle van and cross Pamlico Sound on the emergency ferry as walk-on passengers instead of waiting hours in the vehicle line.
On weekdays, county vans will make runs starting at 4:30 a.m. and ending at 8:30 p.m., linking the two ferry docks with a pair of parking lots. On the island side the lot is the Rodanthe Beach Access at 3731 N.C. Highway 12, and on the mainland it is Pointers Field at 98 Bayview Drive in Stumpy Point. Cars can stay in those lots for extended periods, so a commuter can keep one vehicle on each side of the route. Every rider still has to meet the county’s entry rules.
Nobody can say yet when N.C. 12 will reopen; the highway is blocked from the Marc Basnight Bridge south to Rodanthe. The N.C. Department of Transportation reports more than 1,100 feet of broken pavement near the Pea Island Visitor Center, and surf kept washing across what was left of the road over the weekend. State crews say they must wait for the tides to drop before rebuilding the protective dunes and then the highway.
The weather may not cooperate soon. The National Weather Service office in Morehead City expects king tides to build and peak early to midweek, with surf up to 10 feet easing only slowly. Visitors remain barred from entering Hatteras Island under the county’s state of emergency.
For now, the emergency ferry between Stumpy Point and Rodanthe and the Hatteras to Ocracoke route are the only ways on or off the island, and room for vehicles is tight. County leaders are asking people to put off any trip that is not essential, while residents with medical appointments can apply for priority boarding on each leg of the crossing.
Section: More Outer Banks NC crime news
Filed under: Outer Banks NC Traffic News
