Enhancing Visitor Experiences Leads To Unforgettable Memories

Island Explorer bus crosses under one of Acadia's historic bridges.

Photo credit: Gregg TeHennepe

The National Park Service regularly looks at ways to improve the experience visitors have when visiting National Parks. In 2018, for the fourth consecutive year, visitation to America’s national parks exceeded 300 million, totaling 318 million visitors. Acadia National Park set a visitation record last year for the third consecutive year, and the total number of park visits increased for the fifth consecutive year. The estimated number of visits to Acadia National Park in 2018 was 3.5 million.

In response to the visitor influx, Acadia recently finalized a transportation plan that will allow them to implement solutions resulting in improved facilities and services that support a range of transportation options providing a better experience when visiting the park as well as a greater protection of resources.. Those solutions include:

• An expanded network of commercial tours, Island Explorer fare-free buses, and on-demand taxis.
• During the high use season, private vehicles will be able to access Ocean Drive corridor, Cadillac Summit Road, and Jordan Pond with a parking reservation and all other destinations in the park without parking reservations.
• Increased park and ride opportunities at Liscomb Pit, the Hulls Cove Visitor Center and Acadia Gateway Center.
  • The new Liscomb Pit parking lot allows for the restoration of an important wetland ecosystem, and removes a dangerous situation associated with roadside parking along a high speed highway and the need for visitors to cross the road after parking.
  • The expanded lot at Hulls Cove will be better designed to manage buses associated with both Island Explorer and commercial-based tours. The new visitor center will be at grade with the parking lot, improving accessibility over its current positioning 50 feet in elevation (or 52 steps) above the existing lot.
  • The construction of the Acadia Gateway Center (as described in the Acadia Gateway Center Environmental Assessment) and the new visitor center with expanded parking at Hulls Cove will accommodate enhanced programming and improved wayfinding, and will allow the area to serve as a transportation hub for park-and-ride visitors and significantly improve accessibility for visitors.

All of these opportunities are available through the culmination of extensive planning, public engagement, and an environmental impact analysis effort that started in 2015. Initial implementation of the plan may begin as soon as 2020 and will continue in the years ahead.