The North Carolina Department of Transportation will begin construction of a bulkhead at the north end ferry terminal, known as the South Dock, later this month.
According to Tim Hass, spokesman for the N.C. Ferry Division, work is scheduled to begin July 22 on the emergency project to protect the South Dock ferry basin and vehicle stacking lanes from further shoreline erosion.
In the last few years, the north end of the island has sustained erosion from overwash from numerous nor’easters and hurricanes.
A big chunk of N.C. 12 has fallen into the sound from the overwash making the stacking lanes unusable. N.C. Ferry workers have relocated the ferry stacking lanes farther south on the highway.
The NCDOT in June awarded a $1.9 million contract to Carolina Bridge of Orangeburg, South Carolina, for construction of a 1,000-foot bulkhead on the north end of Ocracoke Island to help slow the erosion.
N.C. Ferry Division Deputy Director Jed Dixon, speaking at the Ocracoke Civic and Business Association meeting Wednesday night, said the contractor will install the metal bulkhead around the point and will end at the midpoint of the ferry stacking lanes.
Dixon said that the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) does not allow hard structures to extend into the ocean.
So, at the point where the bulkhead will end, three legs of rip rap, or groins, will be installed perpendicularly into the inlet to try to catch sediment and slow the shoreline erosion, said Justin LeBlanc, who is on the Ocracoke Waterways Commission and the OCBA board of directors.
“Sandbags didn’t work,” Dixon said. That’s when the DOT was able to pull the emergency permit from CAMA for the remedial action.
The groin part of the project is in the planning and permitting stages and the National Park Service is accepting public comments on that portion of the project. Comments can be made here.
With additional materials for the project, the total cost will be $4 million.
The work is expected to be completed in October, Dixon said.
