Residents raise concerns with ferry fees

A proposal that will add to the cost of her work commute drew Rosemary Conley to a meeting held Monday night in Morehead City to gauge the public’s opinion on plans to increase or add tolls for five North Carolina ferry routes.

For Conley, who commutes from her home in Oriental to her job as an oncology nurse for Carteret General Hospital in Morehead City, the idea of a new toll for the Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach route, which is now free, is particularly disturbing.

Conley spoke during the meeting and also expressed her concerns before the presentation.

“I’m very upset,” she said. “For one, economic times are hard right now and, second, it would be going from nothing to $4 to $7 per car per day.”

Whatever the toll, it will be an additional expense for those who take the three-mile, 20-minute ferry ride in their daily trips to and from work.

“It’s generally a commuter ferry and not as much for pleasure,” she said.

The General Assembly mandated in 2011 that the N.C. Department of Transportation increase ferry revenue up to $5 million annually. To meet the mandate, there are plans to increase toll rates on the Southport-Fort Fisher, Swan Quarter-Ocracoke and Cedar Island-Ocracoke routes and to implement tolls at the Bayview-Aurora and Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach routes.

The proposed tolling goes beyond transportation issues, said those attending the meeting.

The ferry system links coastal communities, moves visitors to and from their destinations and keeps businesses connected to customers, all vital to the economy of eastern North Carolina.

“That’s the biggest thing for me is that it’s going to impact the economy of the area,” said Lillie Miller of the Down East area of Carteret County, where the ferry terminal at Cedar island is located.

Depending on what pricing options become final, the proposed one-way fare for an average size vehicle using the Cedar Island-Ocracoke route would increase from the current $15 to rates ranging from $25 to $33.

“That could cut off some of the traffic from Cedar Island to Ocracoke and vice versa,” she said.

That could translate into fewer tourists traveling through the area and stopping at shops and attractions, or fewer residents from Ocracoke riding to the mainland to do business.

Tom Steepy of Beaufort, a former Carteret County commissioner and a member of the Outer Banks Scenic Byway Committee, said that the ferries are a vital part of linking all areas of the byway, which stretches from just south of Nags Head to Down East Carteret County.

The byway, which is designated as part of the North Carolina and National Scenic Byways, encourages people to explore the area’s scenic views and coastal treasures, including two national parks, two national wildlife refuges and beaches and tidal marshes.

“Tourists are a big part of the Outer Banks,” he said.

But as people travel the Outer Banks, there is an inequity, he said.

Those traveling from the upper Outer Banks south can take a free ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke Island but those traveling north pay to take the ferry from Cedar Island to Ocracoke.

Steepy said it’s going to put Carteret County businesses at a disadvantage and hurt the day trippers who want to leave from Cedar Island to Ocracoke.

And with plans to increase fees elsewhere, there were questions as to why the Ocracoke-Hatteras route is one of two excluded from the plans.

DOT officials said it was a decision made by the General Assembly during the budget discussions and they are following a mandate.

With the Hatteras-Ocracoke route having the most passengers of any routes, citizens at the Morehead City meeting said a fee implemented there would ease the burden on the other routes.

Jerry Gaskill of Cedar Island, a former ferry division director, said the plans to be implemented April 1 don’t take into consideration the loss to the economy of eastern North Carolina if people choose to bypass the area.

“If they go through Cedar Island and they go through Beaufort and they go through Morehead City or go over to Ocracoke, they are going to buy gas, they are going to go to the shops, they are going to stay in the hotels,” he said.

Gaskill said the General Assembly should re-consider the plans in the short session later this year.

“We need to send a message to legislators, no matter who they are, that they have not thought through what this could do to the economy of eastern North Carolina,” he said.

Another public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at Pamlico Community College.

Written comments on the proposals will be received through Feb. 16 and should be sent to Jamille Robbins, Public Involvement Officer; NCDOT Human Environment Section; 1598 Mail Service Center; Raleigh, NC 27699-1598. Or email jarobbins@ncdot.gov.