The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Currituck-Knotts Island Ferry will temporarily suspend service starting June 9 to perform major repair and renovation work to the terminals at both ends of the ferry route. 

The 40-minute route, which traverses the Currituck Sound between Knotts Island and the mainland, is scheduled to resume service on Aug. 6. 

“We hate to suspend service, even temporarily, but this maintenance is needed to keep the route operational,” said Ferry Division Director Harold Thomas. “It’s vitally important to the Knotts Island community to have the route up and running again for the next school year, and we fully intend to do that.” 

Crews plan to rebuild the piling and fender system the ferry uses to tie up on both sides. Maintenance also will be performed on the ramps that vehicles use to board the ferry. 

The Currituck-Knotts Island ferry route was created in the fall of 1962 to allow the children of Knotts Island to avoid a circuitous route through Virginia to and from schools on the Currituck County mainland. The ferry is free.  

About 20,000 vehicles and 50,000 passengers use the Currituck-Knotts Island Ferry each year.