By Michelle Bliss
04-26-11 – Residents and visitors in Carteret and Onslow counties are starting to use Emerald Isle's new boat launching facility which opened earlier this month.
The Emerald Isle Public Boating Access Area is the largest public boat launching facility on the North Carolina coast.
Emerald Isle Town Manager Frank Rush says that the project began three years ago when the only privately-owned marina in town was closing its doors.
"We wanted to make sure that people always had a place to launch a boat in Emerald Isle. You know, it's important to our quality of life for the people who live here. It's equally important to our tourism economy. We want to make sure we've got these types of amenities so that we can continue to lure visitors to our area."
Rush says that three years ago, there were only about 50 boat launch parking spaces within a 20-mile radius across western Carteret and eastern Onslow. The new access area on the Bogue Sound offers more than 100 parking spaces and four ramps.
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