KELLY — The Elwell Ferry closure has been a major blow to the community, but not all hope is lost for its reopening.
The ferry is a major connector across the Cape Fear River, and without it travelers have to go up all the way up into Elizabethtown or south to U.S. 11 along the county line to another bridge. With no ferry, some trips can easily be almost an hour drive to just get to the opposite side of the river.
There’s no timetable for its return to service, the state says. But they hope it will be soon.
“The Elwell Ferry was a free service we gladly provided for a very long time to passengers, which averaged 25 a day to 70 a day, depending on the time of year,” Andrew Barksdale, a spokesman for the state Department of Transporation, wrote in an email.
Barksdale said that it was important to note that the Elwell cable ferry has only been operational approximately half the time over the last few years due to the rising of the Cape Fear River. Much of the rising of the river has occurred from hurricane-related flooding incidents. Often, the road leading to the ferry would remain submerged for many, many days after the storms came through.
”We’ve had some very wet years of late,” he wrote.
Young’s Trucking and Hauling, based out of Columbus County, had the contract with DOT for the service. But the owner, Eric Stacy Young of Lake Waccamaw, died March 5. A week later, most of the state ground to a halt because of COVID-19. And Barksdale explained that was also about the time DOT was about to get into better financial shape.
“At the time of his death, our department was still going through a budget crunch that began in 2019, and with which we were beginning to overcome before the pandemic in March,” Barksdale says. “When he died, we had to pause temporarily on ordering a new contract because of the budget situation.”
Gov. Roy Cooper issued “stay at home” executive orders, and DOT lost gas tax revenue. Barksdale said the estimate for DOT was a loss approximatley $300 mllion from March to June.
New bids haven’t been sought.
There are also two other river cable ferries like Elwell, said Barksdale.
“Both are in the northeastern part of the state and are also closed for budget reasons,” he said. “We have no plans to permanently close the Elwell Ferry, but I’m afraid I can’t give you a good time frame on when this free service will resume again.”