FEBRUARY 20, 2013 — The Coast Guard began work Tuesday placing temporary aids to navigation needed to open a substitute route for North Carolina's Hatteras to Ocracoke ferry.

The Hatteras to Ocracoke ferry route was suspended on January 18 due to severe shoaling.

Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team Wanchese personnel are scheduled to place 14 new temporary aids to navigation with their 26-foot trailerable aids to navigation boat and 55-foot aids to navigation boat by Friday. The temporary channel will serve until dredging of the main ferry route can be completed by the scheduled date of March 31.

"Our close work with federal, state and local partners in placing these temporary aids to navigation is a great interim solution that will allow ferry service to resume," said Rear Admiral Steven Ratti, the Coast Guard's 5th District commander.

Army Corps of Engineers personnel identified an alternate temporary route February 8. A subsequent request was made by the North Carolina Ferry Division to the Coast Guard, which initiated the Coast Guard's response in marking a temporary channel.