MANNS HARBOR — The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division will begin suspending some operations after 8:30 p.m. tonight ahead of Hurricane Irene. Ferries will continue operating on most routes until it becomes unsafe.
Ocracoke Routes
The last departure to Cedar Island is at 8:30 p.m. tonight.
The last departure to Swan Quarter will be at 7 a.m. Friday, Aug. 26.
Hatteras-Ocracoke will begin departing on the hour only beginning Friday morning.
Currituck-Knotts Island
Operations will suspend at 3:45 p.m. Friday.
Other Routes
Southport-Fort Fisher, Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach and Bayview-Aurora will maintain normal operations as long as possible.
Two vessels will be moored at Stumpy Point on the mainland Friday afternoon with crews standing by in case the emergency route to Rodanthe on the Outer Banks needs to be activated after the storm passes.
Operations will return to normal as soon as soon as the U.S. Coast Guard deems it safe.
Real-time travel information is available by calling 511, online at www.ncdot.gov/travel or www.ncdot.gov/travel/twitter. Another option is NCDOT Mobile, a phone-friendly version of the NCDOT website. To access it, type “m.ncdot.gov” into the browser of your smartphone. Then, bookmark it to save for future reference. NCDOT Mobile is compatible with the iPhone, Android and some newer Blackberry phones.
Ferry information is available by calling 800-293-3779 (BY-FERRY) and pressing 1, or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ncdot_ferry.