INTERMODAL PASSENGER SOLUTIONS: THE ACADIA NATIONAL PARK CASE

The history of Acadia National Park is unique among American parks for several reasons. Some are: It was the first national park east of the Mississippi; it was created entirely from donated land (more than 500 different donors); it is a veritable patchwork quilt of public and private properties and municipalities; it is located on two separate islands and a non-adjacent peninsula in the so-called "Down East" region of coastal Maine. The main island which contains a majority of the park is called Mount Desert Island (MDI), a name derived from the French explorer Champlain's description in 1604 of the unusual barren mountains rising form the coastal plain. The island is connected to the mainland of coastal Hancock County, Maine via a single road over a causeway and bridge which were completed in 1931. MDI is about 17 miles by 14 miles in area and almost split in twoow by a 153 ft. deep (at its deepest) fjord, the only one on the U.S. Atlantic coast. There are a number of lakes, ponds, coves, and sounds which result in a complex network of roundabout roads between locations. For example, two of the principal towns, Northeast Harbor and Southwest Harbor, are about a mile apart by boat but about 12 miles by road. The building of the bridge over the causeway distressed the wealthy summer residents because they regarded those who could merely drive to the island as a "socially irresponsible element." The wealthy "rusticators," as they were called, had good reason to be upset, although not the reason they expressed. Indeed heavy traffic was going to invade the island. Automobiles had first been allowed on the island (via ferry) in 1913 and 1916, when traffic figures were calculated at the newly designated national monument Sieur de Monts near Bar Harbor, more than 15,000 cars and 101,000 people toured the area. Concern about protecting what was once the least accessible of all American resorts led to the lasting benefits that was eventually given to the general public, the creation of Acadia National Park.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Forum

  One Farragut Square South, Suite 500
  Washington, DC  United States  20006-4003
• Authors:
  • Fricke, Donna G
  • Hummel, John W
• Conference:
  • Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Forum
  • Location: Annapolis, Maryland
  • Date: 2000-11-29 to 2000-12-1
• Publication Date: 2000

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 409-428

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Causeways; Coasts; Islands; Parks; Roundabouts; Traffic congestion; Traffic control; Vacations
• Geographic Terms: Maine
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00804786
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 10 2001 12:00AM