Notice of Availability of the Draft Transportation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for Acadia National Park, Maine |
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Deborah L. Conway
Department of the Interior
30 April 2018
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 83 (Monday, April 30, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18862-18863]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-08998]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-NERO-ACAD-DTS-24916; PX.PD210624B.00.4]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Transportation Plan and
Environmental Impact Statement for Acadia National Park, Maine
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The National Park Service (NPS) announces the availability of
the Draft Transportation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Draft
Plan/EIS) for Acadia National Park. The purpose of the Transportation
Plan is to determine how best to provide safe and efficient
transportation and a variety of high quality experiences to visitors
within Acadia National Park while ensuring the protection of park
resources and values. The Draft Plan/EIS describes four alternatives
for consideration, including a no-action alternative.
DATES: Comments will be accepted for a period of 60 days following
publication of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Notice of
Availability of the Draft Plan/EIS in the Federal Register. After the
EPA Notice of Availability is published, the NPS will schedule public
meetings to be held during the comment period. The comment period and
dates, times, and locations of these public meetings will be announced
through social media and local media outlets, and on the NPS Planning,
Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ACADTransportationPlan, and Acadia National Park's
website at https://www.nps.gov/acad/index.htm.
ADDRESSES: The Draft Plan/EIS will be available electronically on the
NPS PEPC website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ACADTransportationPlan.
Comments may be submitted electronically through the PEPC website at
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ACADTransportationPlan. Comments will also
be accepted in hardcopy by mail to: Acadia National Park, Attn:
Transportation Plan, P.O. Box 177, Bar Harbor, ME 04609.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Kelly, Management Assistant,
Acadia National Park, P.O. Box 177, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, (207) 288-
8703, John_T_Kelly@nps.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Park Service (NPS) is preparing
a transportation plan for Acadia National Park to determine ways to
provide safe and efficient transportation for visitors while ensuring
the protection of park resources and values. Transportation issues at
Acadia National Park are diverse and complex. Visitors travel to and
within the park by private vehicle, tour bus, bicycle, ferry, Island
Explorer bus, and other modes. In 2016, park visitation reached a
record 3.3 million visitors, which is an increase of 58 percent from
2006.
High volumes of visitors accessing popular visitor destinations
during peak times is causing gridlock, visitor conflicts, crowding,
emergency response delays, and resource trampling. Concentrated volumes
and mixture of traffic, particularly on the Park Loop Road and Cadillac
Mountain Road, create critical visitor safety issues, severe crowding
and congestion, impacts on the road systems, and challenges to the
park's operational efficiency and sustainability. Further, the
interdependent relationship between Acadia National Park and diverse
gateway communities increases the complexity of managing visitor use
and access, especially given the importance of the park to the local
economy. The transportation plan will determine ways to improve safety,
reduce congestion and crowding, avoid impacts to park resources, and
provide visitors with a high-quality experience through a variety of
mechanisms such as visitor management strategies, enhancements to
alternative transportation services, restrictions on vehicle size, and
expanded access to parking.
The Draft Plan/EIS evaluates four alternatives:
Alternative A: No Action--reflects current transportation
management direction and serves as a baseline for comparison with the
other alternatives. Current management (as outlined in the park's 1992
General Management Plan) would continue with no major changes
[[Page 18863]]
from current operations, and changes that did occur would be on an as-
needed basis. Management of park visitors would continue to vary
seasonally as visitor demand and needs change with many management
strategies focusing on the peak season between mid-May and mid-October.
Parking would remain available to all users on a first-come, first-
served basis and right lane parking on the Park Loop Road would
continue to occur. Temporary or permanent closures of roads and parking
areas may occur if necessary to address safety and security concerns or
to ensure the financial sustainability of the overall transportation
system.
Alternative B--would establish a reservation system for parking at
five of the primary attractions and trailheads along Park Loop Road
during peak times and seasons, and eliminate right lane parking to
improve traffic flows. Gates and queuing lanes would be constructed
where needed to validate reservations and to control access on some
first-come, first-served lots.
Alternative C: Proposed action and preferred alternative--would
address transportation and congestion issues by establishing a
reservation system for the Ocean Drive corridor, Cadillac Mountain
Road, and the Jordan Pond North Lot during peak use season
(approximately mid-May to mid-October). During initial implementation
of this alternative, all other parking lots in the park would continue
to be managed on a first-come, first-served basis; but the alternative
includes an adaptive management strategy that directs park managers to
monitor traffic and resource conditions elsewhere in the park. If
monitoring indicates traffic or resource conditions worsening beyond
established thresholds, access to Island Explorer routes entering the
park, vehicle access to other parking lots, or vehicle access to the
entire Park Loop Road may be added to the reservation systems. Expanded
opportunities for parking and associated visitor access to the park
(without private vehicles) would be provided via expanded public
transit service and improvements at Hulls Cove and the Acadia Gateway
Center.
Alternative D--would establish a systemwide approach to manage
volume of vehicles on Park Loop Road during the peak use season. Gates
and additional entrance stations would be installed at all access
points to Park Loop Road and a timed-entry reservation system would be
established for vehicle access to Park Loop Road during the peak use
season. Once a visitor passes through an entrance station or gate
during their reserved entry window, all parking lots on Park Loop Road
would be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Under all of the action alternatives (alternatives B, C, and D),
vehicle size limits would be phased in for all commercial and
noncommercial vehicles on the Park Loop Road to improve safety and
maintain the historic character of the road. Also common to these
alternatives, the number of oversize commercial vehicles (vehicles that
do not fit within a standard parking space such as a bus) allowed at
key locations at one time would be managed to ensure desired conditions
are maintained and visitor capacities at the parks primary attractions
are not exceeded.
The NPS will accept comments on the Draft Plan/EIS for a period of
60 days following publication of the Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) Notice of Availability of the Draft Plan/EIS in the Federal
Register. After the EPA Notice of Availability is published, the NPS
will schedule public meetings to be held during the comment period. The
comment period and dates, times, and locations of these public meetings
will be announced through social media and local media outlets; and on
the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ACADTransportationPlan, and Acadia National Park's
website at https://www.nps.gov/acad/index.htm.
If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any one of
several methods. The preferred method of commenting is to enter
comments electronically through the PEPC website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/ACADTransportationPlan. Comments will also be
accepted in hardcopy by mail to: Acadia National Park, Attn:
Transportation Plan, P.O. Box 177, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, or you may
hand-deliver hardcopy comments to the park at 20 McFarland Hill Drive,
Bar Harbor, ME. Comments will not be accepted in any other format
beyond those specified above.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in any comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Dated: March 13, 2018.
Deborah L. Conway,
Acting Regional Director, Northeast Region, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-08998 Filed 4-27-18; 8:45 am]
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