Concerns resurface about Rodanthe-Stumpy Point emergency ferry channel at Waterways Commission meeting

Barely a week after the 2025 hurricane season officially launched, an update provided at the June 9 meeting of the Dare County Waterways Commission provided little comfort that maintenance of […] The post Concerns resurface about Rodanthe-Stumpy Point emergency ferry channel at Waterways Commission meeting appeared first on Island Free Press.

Barely a week after the 2025 hurricane season officially launched, an update provided at the June 9 meeting of the Dare County Waterways Commission provided little comfort that maintenance of the Rodanthe-Stumpy Point emergency ferry channel for Hatteras Island would be in place to assure access in the event of a storm disruption. 

If anything, the situation is status quo: The channel is still passable with six feet of water at a shoaled spot in Rodanthe Harbor, but there’s no leeway. And it’s cumbersome and time-consuming getting the regulatory changes, which explains why it hasn’t happened after a year of back-and-forth discussions. 

“We’re not authorized to go deeper than six feet,” Ronnie Smith, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, speaking remotely, told commissioners on Monday at the regular meeting in Buxton. “I know it’s six plus two, but in order to get a little deeper than that, you’d have to get some Congressional authorization to have a little bit more draft there.”

In addition, Smith said, in order to add authorization to its permit for a bucket-and-barge project,  the Corps’ environmental assessment (EA) would have to be updated.  A permit modification could potentially also allow dredge material to be pumped to a scour hole.

“And you know, it could take about six months to a year to complete, and about $75,000 to complete the EA to allow for mechanical dredging and offshore or open water placement,” he said.

After securing an emergency permit from the state last September, Dare County paid about $100,000 to have the bucket-and-barge remove about 600 cubic yards of material that was clogging a small section of the emergency ferry channel in Rodanthe basin, which had essentially rendered the entire channel impassable.

Created in 2009, the emergency channel has been critical to maintaining access for islanders and emergency supplies on and off the island when N.C. 12 becomes impassable due to storm damage or other disasters. 

Maintenance of the channel has been complicated by the fact that it is almost an entirely federally authorized channel, and the Corps can currently only use a pipeline dredge that is limited to working in the winter months. Meanwhile, Dare County, which is responsible for material disposal, has recently had to do upgrades of the disposal areas by the docks.

“If we aren’t going to have a channel in an emergency, why are we worrying about the emergency docks?” Commissioner Ernie Foster asked. “And if we are worried about them, why don’t we go about the business of at least getting (the EA) so that we can get a channel deep enough so that we have something in the event of a hurricane?”

Commission members unanimously agreed in a motion to get the ball rolling and request the EA modification, while continuing to seek additional solutions for the maintenance of the emergency channel.

The request to transfer funds to the Corps for the EA modification would be sent to the Dare County Board of Commissioners for its consideration, Waterways Commission administrator Barton Grover said. Typically, the state would provide 75% of the cost, he said.

“But as much as we’d like to think it, none of that is fast,” commented Commission Chair Steve “Creature” Coulter, referring to getting the permit in hand.  “We started nine months ago asking about it, didn’t we?”

Responded Foster: “It’s more like a year and a half.”

Asked in a later interview about the cost estimate for another bucket-and-barge project, Grover said he had “no idea.”

“We would hope, at that point, once the EA is modified, that the federal government can fund that operation, because it is a federal channel already,” he said. “So, yeah, because it is a federal channel, we’re hoping that if they can get an environmental authorization that allows them to dredge in the summer before hurricane season, then the federal government would fund the dredging after they get that all the environmental stuff out of the way.”

The commission also spent considerable time discussing dredging and survey work in the Rollinson project and ferry channels.

“We are on track to solicit a contract to dredge Hatteras Ferry channel and the channels that need to be dredged, including Sloop Point north, the Hatteras Ferry Connector Channel, and the Barney Slough south channel,” Smith said, adding that the contract is expected to be awarded on Sept. 30.

The Corps has been talking with Hyde County, the state Department of Environmental Quality, and the state Ferry Division about working on an agreement to have an additional 50 feet on either side of the ferry channel for Sloop Point north

“All the material that we plan to dredge is going to go to DOT island right here, which is kind of a central location to all the dredge areas,” Smith said, pointing to a small area near the channels on a survey map. 

There is about $3.5 million to $4 million for the Rollinson work, he said, but the Corps was also recently given another $1.5 million for additional dredging if it’s needed.

Smith said that the EA modification for the Rollinson project — which provides for additional disposal areas and widening the corridor — is expected to be completed in about a month and will include authorization for potential shoreline placement of the dredge material in the future.

Dare County consultant Ken Willson, with Wilmington-based Coastal Protection Engineering, also speaking remotely, said that the permit for the inlet’s ocean bar has finally been completed, except for cultural resources survey work.

Showing several different outlines on a satellite photograph of proposed dredge boxes and borders, Willson said that in closer examination, it may be worth expanding the survey area about 1,500 feet to proactively cover the dredge area if the current channel continues to move east. The cost would increase from the estimated $75,000 to $85,000 to between $105,000 to $110,000.

“So, you know, there’s a little bit of risk-reward there,” Willson said. “You can take the smaller price, but at some point in time, we know these channels do have a tendency of migrating. It’s just how long is that going to buy us? Or we can do the larger area, save on some mobilization while the crew is up there, and try to have a little bit bigger of a buffer over time to manage that channel.”

The commissioners agreed to further consider the options before deciding.

“I think the Waterways Commission is going to still kind of talk about how big of the scope they want to do,” Grover said in the interview. “And then I have to set up a cost-share contract with the state to contribute to that, and then the work has to be done. So, it would take about six months all in all to get that done.”

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