BREAKING NEWS: Town mulls dead-ending Jordan Pond Road to cure traffic woes
Latest example of park's carrying capacity exceeding island villages' ability to function
SEAL HARBOR, Aug. 8, 2023 - Ten years after complaints about traffic on Jordan Pond Road became an annual rite of summer, the select board last night assigned the police chief and public works director to develop a plan to make the road a seasonal dead end.
“Is there a possibility that the town could dead-end that road,” select chair John Macauley posed in a low-key, nonchalant manner which was seized immediately by the anxious group of residents as a capital idea.
Resident Lili Pew suggested the dead end could be seasonal which won even more support.
The two-mile stretch of a country lane through the center of the hamlet of Seal Harbor has become an over-used short cut for tourists and truckers on their way to the Jordan Pond House restaurant and trail, despite signs which state the road is closed to through traffic.
The select board was responding to a petition signed by 20 residents of Jordan Pond Road seeking relief.
Charles Stephenson of 56 Jordan Pond Road presented the board with a letter which stated that drivers are “ignoring ‘no through traffic’ signs posted at either end of the street, else this petition would be unnecessary; the same holds true for a number of park visitors who regularly ignore the admonition to travel an alternative route.
“Over recent years, as Jordan Pond House has grown exponentially in popularity, the concessioner has become increasingly reliant on tractor trailers and large box trucks to deliver the food and other consumables.
“The list, though not exclusive, includes (tractor trailers) Dennis Foods, Performance Food Group, Sysco, Coca Cola, and Budweiser; (dump trucks) Gott’s Disposal; and (box trucks) W.A. Bean, Central Liquors, lpswich Shellfish, and an unlabeled truck.
“Their route is not the Stanley Brook Road - which was specifically donated to provide access to the park - but our street. As you are aware, our street is narrow and curvy, and negotiates a lengthy hill. Our houses are in most cases built very close to the road. From top to bottom, our street traverses a neighborhood in its richest sense, and its sidewalks are heavily utilized.
“All those circumstances makes Jordan Pond Road truly unique and precious to us, the vestige of a different - and better - time, and therefore deserving of preservation. By contrast, the trucks are all noisy; they are all large. When they arrive at or before 5 a.m., they disturb our sleep. When they arrive later in the day, they threaten the safety of our neighbors, their children, grandchildren, pets and elderly parents. When they climb the hill, they power up to maintain their speed; when they return, the temptation to hurry down our street to their next delivery often proves irresistible.”
Stephenson suggested several remedies - improved signage and “specifically directing traffic to turn at the cemetery pullout (southbound) and the fire station parking lot (northbound.)”
But it was Macauley’s suggestion which caught the attention of the room, consisting of residents, Police Chief David Kerns, Public Works Director Brian Henkel, Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider, Eric Stiles, director of Friends of Acadia, and a representative of The Dawnland LLC, which operates Jordan Pond House.
The dead end would redirect traffic onto Stanley Brook Road, which was the original intention. Large trucks unable to fit under the Stanley Brook bridge may be given special permission to use the Park Loop Road, which is closed to commercial traffic even though that’s widely ignored as well, some said.
Villages across the island - from Bass Harbor to Otter Creek - have been battling similar challenges.
Acadia National Park is one of 12 national parks which require some form of reservations to manage visitation. But it requires reservation to the peak of Cadillac Mountain only.
Grand Canyon has a lottery for those who wish to cruise through on the Colorado River.
Chief Kerns reported that police have compiled data showing 29,183 one-way vehicle trips over 241 days on the stretch of the road in question. That prompted Macauley to ask his question about dead-ending.
(The QSJ was corrected by a reader who witnessed traffic last week on Rt. 102 headed off island backing up to the Triple Chick Farm, a distance of 3.5 miles to the Trenton bridge.)
Perhaps they could dead end our road too. It’s been closed for repairs for a month. Bliss, no more traffic tearing along a little winding road with people walking dogs. Kids hanging out. Signs everywhere saying slow down. 25. Etc. To no avail. Total disrespect for residents. Sick of it.
OMGosh. On early morning bicycling, I've encountered Jordan Pond House suppliers driving BIG trucks in the wrong direction on one-way stretches of the Loop Road. They seem to take a Right turn coming out of JPH and just keep going.