Tolling The Ferries

Monday night, February 20 at 7:00, the Pamlico County Board of Commissioners will discuss and consider possible action on Ferry Tolls. This was triggered, at least in part, by the disclosure at last week's DOT hearing that there is a provision in North Carolina General Statutes against converting "any segment" of the nontolled State Highway system to a toll facility. The provision is as follows:

"G.S. 136-89.187  Page 1
§ 136-89.187.  Conversion of free highways prohibited.
The  Authority  Board  is  prohibited  from  converting  any  segment  of  the  nontolled  State
Highway  System  to  a  toll  facility,  except  for  a  segment  of  N.C.  540  under  construction  as  of
July 1, 2006, located in Wake County and extending from the N.C. 54 exit on N.C. 540 to the
N.C. 55 exit on N.C. 540. No segment may be converted to a toll route pursuant to this section
unless  first  approved  by  the  Metropolitan  Planning  Organization  (MPO)  or  Rural  Planning
Organization (RPO) of the area in which that segment is located.  (2002-133, s. 1; 2006-228, s.
3; 2008-225, s. 5.)"

Examination of the map of the state transportation system made available to attendees make it plain that both the Minnesott ferry and the Aurora ferry are segments of state highway 306.

Unfortunately, the "Authority Board" mentioned in the law is the North Carolina Turnpike Authority board, not the state legislature.

So we need to review the North Carolina Constitution with a fine-tooth comb. I have a couple of ideas, but they aren't ready for prime time yet.