Acadia proposes parking reservation system

Acadia National Park in coastal Maine has released a draft planning document presenting possible actions to address increasing visitor vehicle traffic. The park's Draft Transportation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement proposes to adopt a timed-entry reservation system for some parking lots and roads in the park. The issue raises questions about infrastructure in national parks, and how to balance competing interests in resource management.

A coastal scene near Acadia National Park.

According to the National Park Service, annual visitation to Acadia National park grew by 58% between 2006 and 2016, exceeding 3 million visits per year. Most of these visits occur from June to October. But while visitor traffic has increased, some park infrastructure hasn't kept up with demand. For example, the Park Service has said that parking spaces in many areas are insufficient to meet visitor needs, and that increased traffic volumes and speeds have created safety issues, resource protection concerns, and adverse impacts to visitor enjoyment.

To address these issues, the National Park Service has proposed changes to how it manages Acadia National Park. On April 26, 2018, Acadia National Park posted its Draft Transportation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). It identifies a preferred alternative (labeled "Alternative C" in the report) and proposed action focused on management of certain corridors within the park .

Alternative C would start by establishing a timed-entry reservation system for the Ocean Drive corridor, Cadillac Summit Road, and the Jordan Pond House North Lot during peak use season, with an adaptive management strategy that could lead to an expansion of the area within which reservations would be required. Alternative C also includes an eventual elimination of right-lane parking along the Park Loop Road, plus changes to some parking lots, among other items.

Beyond the corridor management plan presented as Alternative C, the Draft Transportation Plan also considers alternatives including taking no action, a site-specific management approach, and systemwide management of the Park Loop Road.

The National Park Service has invited public comments on Acadia's Draft Transportation Plan and EIS until June 26. The agency will hold public meetings and information sessions in the area, as well as a virtual online session.

March 1, 2011 - solar ships

For millennia, humans have used renewable energy to propel ships over the oceans.  The winds that have filled the sails of hundreds of generations' most technologically advanced vessels gained their power from the Sun's radiation shining on land and sea, creating temperature differentials that in turn caused the winds to blow.  Archaeological evidence suggests that the first sailboats may have been used by the Egyptians over 6,000 years ago.  Sail technology may have arisen in multiple separate regions of the world over time, but whoever was responsible for the first sailboats clearly started something big: harnessing renewable energy to move people and cargo over the water.

Photo: winter in Northeast Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine.

 Sailcraft still ply the world's waters of course, though the development of commercially-viable steam engines in the 18th century significantly changed the course of ship design and technology.  Naval engineers and marine architects continue to make advances in sailcraft design, using new materials and new design tools to create faster and more efficient vessels.  At the same time, a new kind of renewable propulsion system is arising: solar-powered ships.

As you read this, the 100-foot MS Turanor PlanetSolar has crossed the Atlantic, traversed the Panama Canal, and is well under way across the Pacific in its bid to be the first solar-powered vessel to circumnavigate the globe.  Constructed by Knierim Yacht Club, in Kiel, Germany, the PlanetSolar uses 537 m² of solar PV panels to generate up to 93.5 kW of power - about 125 hp.  The solar PV panels have an efficiency of 18.8%, and are linked to six 388-volt lithium ion batteries with an aggregate storage capacity of 2910 amp-hours (Ah).  (Compare the current Toyota Prius hybrid drive battery, which has a nominal capacity of 6 Ah.)

January 25, 2011 - Ruby Pipeline

Photo: a recent view of the beach in Seal Harbor, Maine.

Last week, I had the chance to see the development of the Ruby Pipeline in northern Utah.  Construction of this project started in July 2010, and work is proceeding along the 680-mile route from Wyoming, across Utah and Nevada, to Oregon.  The project is aiming to begin shipping gas from the Rocky Mountain region in June 2011.  The pipeline will interconnect with other pipelines serving local distribution companies with customers in California, Nevada and Oregon.  It is being developed by El Paso Corporation, the owner of North America’s largest gas pipeline system and one of the continent's largest independent natural gas producers.

Here's a link to the project's website and a PDF of the route map.  I saw a portion of the route across Box Elder and Cache Counties in Utah, where the pipeline runs along the Wasatch Front and climbs up over a pass to Cache Valley.  The pipeline itself generally runs underground (buried about 3 feet deep).

If you're really interested, here's a link to the pipeline's tariff (a 236-page PDF).