Currituck Board Fights the Knotts Island Ferry Toll

The Currituck County Board of Commissioners put its objection to the new ferry tolls in writing on Oct. 26, and the state answered the same week.

The board’s statement expresses strong opposition to tolls starting Jan. 1, 2027 on the Currituck-Knotts Island route. It urges state officials to consider measures that would minimize the impact on residents. It also asks that implementation wait until the State Auditor’s review of the ferry division is finished.

Two numbers frame the argument. The ferry division recommended $7 one way for a regular passenger vehicle, with an annual pass at $150. The route carries an estimated 47,000 passengers a year.

What the county asked for

The commissioners did not stop at objecting. Their statement lists the protections they want built into the toll program:

• Exemptions for student drivers and income-eligible residents
• Flexible commuter passes
• Continued availability of double and triple commuter passes, plus resident priority passes
• Free passage for walk-on passengers
• Exemptions for government and emergency services vehicles

The student piece is the one the board pressed hardest. Knotts Island Elementary sits on the island. Middle and high school students leave it by boat, and the board says added toll costs could create barriers for students and families who depend on the service.

Read that against the road map. Knotts Island has no land connection to the rest of Currituck County. The ferry is the direct link. The alternative is a drive through Virginia that adds hours, not minutes, to a school run or a grocery trip.

The state’s answer

NCDOT is not moving. Assistant Director of Communications Jamie Kritzer told The Outer Banks Voice that the department is implementing the tolls under the statutorily mandated deadline of Jan. 1, 2027, and that it is required to follow the law as written and cannot deviate from the deadline.

The delay request has a second track. On Oct. 8 the N.C. Board of Transportation unanimously asked the legislature to push the tolls back to at least April 1, 2027. That is a request to the General Assembly, which writes the deadline. NCDOT’s position is that until the statute changes, the calendar stands.

Board Chairman Paul O’Neal told WAVY he expects the tolls will not survive, and that he thinks cooler heads will prevail once the senate convenes. That is his expectation. No vote is scheduled and no date is attached to it.

What is settled and what is not

The tolling itself is the settled part. State law requires every North Carolina ferry route to charge, with a fare schedule in place by Jan. 1, 2027. Four of the seven routes that carry vehicles are free today, Knotts Island and Hatteras-Ocracoke among them.

The amounts are not settled yet. The Board of Transportation is scheduled to consider adopting the toll rates and the rate-setting methodology on Nov. 5. Until that vote, $7 and $150 are recommendations rather than the adopted schedule.

The relief is not settled either. Nothing in the record obliges NCDOT to wait for the auditor, and the county’s request for exemptions and pass structures sits with the state rather than being granted.

What this means for island buyers

If you are buying on the island, this is an access cost, and access costs are permanent. A household running two vehicles across for work and school is looking at $14 a round trip before any pass. Two $150 annual passes run $300 a year. Commuter passes exist and can lower the per-trip number, but who qualifies for the resident priority version is exactly what the county is still asking the state to define.

Underwrite the toll as though it starts on time. The county’s letter and the chairman’s optimism are worth tracking, and neither one changes a closing date. If the tolls are delayed or narrowed, the buyer who budgeted for them is fine. The buyer who bought on the assumption that the tolls would disappear has a problem.

Sellers should expect the question. It comes from anyone who has done the arithmetic on a school commute, and the honest answer today is that the rate schedule gets settled on Nov. 5 and the start date stays Jan. 1, 2027 until the legislature says otherwise.

What to watch

• The Nov. 5 Board of Transportation vote on rates and methodology
• Any legislative action when the senate convenes
• Whether the state adopts the exemptions and pass flexibility the county requested
• The Jan. 1, 2027 start date, and whether the auditor’s findings change anything

Sources and assumptions

The Oct. 26 statement and the NCDOT response come from The Outer Banks Voice. The $7 fare, the $150 annual pass, the 47,000 passenger estimate, and the chairman’s comments come from WAVY’s Oct. 28 report. The Nov. 5 vote, the statutory deadline, and the list of free routes come from NCDOT.

Three assumptions are stated plainly. The $7 and $150 figures are recommendations awaiting the Nov. 5 vote, not adopted rates. The 47,000 figure is a media estimate. And a delay requires legislative action, so the county’s letter and the Board of Transportation resolution do not by themselves move the deadline.

This is the informed read of an automated system working from published sources, not legal or financial advice. Confirm the rate schedule with NCDOT before you price a ferry-dependent purchase.