Parking Reservations For Acadia?! Looks Like

According to the Portland Press Herald, Maine's iconic Acadia National Park has become so popular that parking reservations have become necessary.

It's been a long time coming, but Acadia officials have finally presented a plan that now waits approval from the National Park Service that will require parking reservations for certain parts of the park; for a small fee, of course.

The goal is to lessen the environmental impact on the park and to make visiting easier. Acadia had 3.5 million visitors last year and traffic congestion waiting to get one of the parking spaces was so horrible that park rangers had to close the summit road to Cadillac Mountain 54 times. They closed it 49 times in 2017 for the same reason. People have been parking where they shouldn't and destroying the natural beauty and habitat that they are there to experience. Illegal parking is not only destroying vegetation, pedestrians are at risk as well.

The plan will require visitors to pay a $10 parking reservation fee on top of the park entrance fee. You'll have a window to arrive and park, but you can stay as long as you like. The system could be in place for 2020 and will provide 1,460 vehicle reservations per day on Cadillac Mountain, 1,020 for the Ocean Drive Corridor and 850 a day for Jordan Pond. Visitors will be encouraged to take advantage of the free Island Explorer shuttle and other tour services.