Traffic Problems Mount As Fish Pier Visitors Increase

CHATHAM – Anyone who braved Shore Road this summer could not help but notice the traffic congestion around the municipal fish pier. If it seemed worse than in recent years, it’s because it was.

 Counts taken at the popular tourist destination shows a substantial increase in visitors. According to Harbormaster Jason Holm, in past years visitors in July and August numbered about 70,000 to 90,000 each month. This year, staff onsite counted 100-plus visitors in July and nearly 150,000 in August.

 “It’s validating what everybody’s seeing down there,” Holm told members of the working waterfront advisory committee Sept. 10. “The traffic is enormous.”

 Those numbers translated to a lot of vehicles roaming about looking for parking, which has become something of a competitive sport in the small fish pier lot since officials banned parking on nearby Barcliff Avenue. This year, vehicles not only crowded the parking lot but lined Shore Road on the east side at the pier property and on the west side north of the pier almost all the way to Old Harbor Road.

 “It’s never gone that far before,” Holm observed, adding that police had to be called to the pier 14 times to resolve traffic and parking problems and minor accidents, in addition to the department’s usual patrols in the area.

 Parking and traffic congestion at the pier, considered the town’s most-visited tourist destination, is nothing new. The town has looked at various ways to address the parking and traffic problem at the pier, ranging from a shuttle to charging a parking fee. Currently the valet company operating the paid-parking area at the Eldredge Garage offers a free shuttle to the pier for those parking at the town-owned lot.

 In the final report on downtown parking and circulation done by the Cape Cod Commission for the town’s parking solutions working group, several recommendations are included for changes at the fish pier. They include improving the intersection of Shore Road and Barcliff Avenue Extension — essentially the fish pier parking lot entrance — with crosswalks and sidewalks.

 The report also notes that the upper parking lot has some spaces marked with a one-hour time limit but others have no limit (only fishermen with valid permits can park overnight). The report noted that while some people visit the pier for lunch or to watch boats unload and only stay for a short time, others stay longer; some vehicles were found to have parked in the lot for more than five hours.

The commission recommends that all public spaces should be limited to one-hour parking in order to encourage turnover. Paid parking is another option, especially for those who want to park for longer periods during trips to the outer beach, for instance (commercial fishermen’s vehicles would be exempt). 

Wharfingers close off the Shore Road entrance to the pier in the summer months to help facilitate traffic flow. Temporary parking spaces could be added there, the report suggests, or the entrance could be permanently closed and more parking added on a permanent basis.

The select board was scheduled to review the final draft parking and circulation study at its Tuesday meeting, after The Chronicle’s deadline.

Most often there are two assistant wharfingers on duty at the pier, Holm said, although at times there are three. One is usually stationed in the upper lot with the other keeping tabs on things in the lower lot, where parking is reserved for commercial fishermen. They must also manage pedestrians, traffic at the adjacent fish market, and commercial trucks of all sizes serving the fish packing bay and south jog off-loading area. 

 “It makes for a very difficult job,” Holm said in a followup interview. Keeping pedestrians within certain areas and out of the way of the commercial fishing operations can be a challenge, he said, adding that work that will happen over the winter will create a better separation between the pedestrian walkway at the south jog and the area where fishermen offload their boats.

 “That’s one of the more challenging areas where we try to keep pedestrian traffic out, because it’s still a working waterfront,” he said.

 Several years ago parking in the lower lot was expanded, which provided more spaces for commercial fishermen so they would not take up space in the upper public lot. Members of the working waterfront advisory committee considered other options for expanding parking and making the situation safer, such as building a retaining wall along Shore Road so vehicles could park off the roadway. Chair Jim Nash said he plans to approach the parking safety committee to discuss the situation.

 Meanwhile, now that August is past, parking at the pier isn’t as crazy as it is during the high season. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any easier, especially on weekends. On Saturday vehicles were stacked up searching for open spaces in the lot, and a number were parked along Shore Road, although not as many as during the summer.