Traffic, parking, and visitor use in the Schoodic District of Acadia National Park, 2016

Jacobi, Charles; Flesh, Rebecca

From the executive summary: "2016 was the first full season of the NPS operating the new facilities at Schoodic Woods, and we wanted to collect as much information as possible about traffic and parking in the Schoodic District. Because the Public Use Statistics Office traffic counter was still out of service, we installed a portable traffic counter north of the entrance to Schoodic Woods to count all vehicle traffic entering the Schoodic District. We installed another portable traffic counter at the entrance to the Day Use Parking Lot. We also enlisted staff and volunteers to observe and count vehicles along the Schoodic Loop Road, in the Day Use Parking Lot, at the Frazer Creek Picnic Area, and at Schoodic Point. Volunteers also counted visitors to Little Moose Island. Traffic counts and the visitor use counts dependent on them show the same seasonal pattern as observed throughout the park, with peak daily flows in August and on Holiday weekends, and peak hourly flows in the middle of the day. Traffic counts entering the park were about 750 per day in July and August, and about 200 vehicles per day exiting the park without driving the loop. These counts include non-recreational and non-reportable traffic. They represent visitor use of about 65,000 people per month. Counts of parked cars along the Schoodic Loop Road at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. were about 60 – 70 cars at one time. Our limited observations suggest that popular sites such as Frazer Point and Schoodic Point rarely exceeded their paved and striped parking capacities, including Schoodic Point at sunset. Peak counts of cars in the Day Use Parking Lot were less than 25% of the capacity of the lot, which is 105 cars. On average there was one RV parked per day and the maximum number observed at one time was eight (capacity is 14RVs). At Frazer Point from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. there were on average about 8 cars parked long-term for various purposes such a biking or walking. Visitor counts for Little Moose Island averaged 18 for the 2 hours around low tide and are consistent with historical registration box data which suggests about 15-30 visitors per day. Traffic monitoring will continue as usual in 2016. We recommend continuing twice a day counts in the Day Use Parking Lot by Schoodic Woods staff as part of a long-term monitoring program. will continue Schoodic Point at sunset. Sunset counts at Schoodic Point and visitor counts for Little Moose Island should continue as volunteers are available. Schoodic Loop Road counts and Frazer Creek Picnic Area parking counts can be discontinued in 2017 and reconsidered for future monitoring."

Traffic, parking, and visitor use in the Schoodic District of Acadia National Park, 2016

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