The Ocracoke Express passenger ferry project for the Outer Banks, North Carolina, is on schedule and will go into service mid-summer, according to a recent Passenger Ferry Stakeholder’s Committee.
The $9 million Ocracoke Express passenger ferry was designed by the North Carolina Department of Transportation to alleviate summer congestion on the existing Hatteras-Ocracoke car ferry route. It is funded by the Federal Lands Access Program and by state appropriations.
The Ocracoke Express will take passengers to Ocracoke Village in a little more than an hour. Passengers taking the ferry will have the option to make reservations and bypass waiting in line.
The online reservation system is under development by the North Carolina Turnpike Authority.
A round-trip ticket will cost $15. The ferry will carry passengers and bicycles.
“Things are happening quickly now,” Harold Thomas, Ferry Division director, said. “I think people are going to see all the moving parts coming together quickly right up until the launch date.”
The ferry is under construction at a shipyard in Swansboro, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed in late June.
Next week, crews will break ground on the visitor facilities at the Hatteras and Ocracoke-Silver Lake terminals and will make parking improvements.