The US National Park Service has released a document containing Preliminary Concepts for changes to how roads, parking and transportation in general are managed at Acadia National Park.
Reasons cited as to the need for these changes include:
- High visitor volumes in summer and shoulder seasons, leading to road congestion and a shortage of available parking
- High volumes of visitors and vehicles impacting natural and cultural resources
- Narrow roads leading to conflicts between e.g. large vehicles and bicycles
A LONG list of Preliminary Concepts for the new transportation management plan includes:
- New entrance station, and changes to entrance/exit patterns
- Changes to traffic patterns: some 1-way areas reversed, etc.
- Reservation system and size restrictions for private vehicles
- Elimination of some roadside parking
- Reservations required at some parking lots
- Concession contracts to replace commercial tour vehicle access to some MDI roads
- Changes to access and use of Schoodic Loop Road
- Many more...
This is a classic case of a tourist attraction being too successful in drawing large numbers of visitors to a small geographic area during a short span of time. Time will tell whether or not implementation of the proposed changes will help or further hurt the visitor experience.
