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BELLEISLE BAY - The trip to the other side of the Belleisle Bay has gotten easier again.

Service was restored to the one-kilometre-long cable ferry that travels between Kars and Keirsteadville Thursday afternoon. High waters had forced it to close on May 2.

Tracey Burkhardt, director of communications for the Department of Transportation, said both the Belleisle Bay and the Evandale ferries were taken off their runs last week because of the high water caused by the spring melt.

The water is still too high to allow Evandale's 12-passenger vessel to operate.

While the closures cause an inconvenience to motorists, Burkhardt said the extra drive is more sensible than a safety risk.

"The problem is two-fold," she said.

"The water gets too high for the ferry to be able to reach the approach and people to safely get down there, and the current gets too fast for the ferry to operate."

The overflowing waters of the St. John River and its tributaries caused Transporation Department officials to raise the ferry landings on the Westfield and Gondola Point ferry runs.

Burkhardt said Evandale will be restored when water levels drop enough for the ferry to operate safely.