A huge new transit and welcome center quietly opened this month, launching a high-stakes effort by Acadia National Park and key partners to persuade more visitors to take the park’s fare-free shuttle and reduce Acadia traffic and parking problems.
The arrowhead emblem of the National Park Service graces a main sign for the Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton.
The Acadia Gateway Center, a key aspect of the park’s transportation plan, is strategically situated off Route 3 in Trenton about 11 miles north of the national park’s Hulls Cove Visitor Center, which can be so busy, drivers may circle around for minutes looking for a parking spot while at the same time having to watch out for pedestrians, bicyclists and RVs.
The Gateway Center, as yet largely undiscovered, aims to head off southbound visitors, allowing them to obtain information about the park and region, leave their cars and board the Island Explorer to reach popular attractions in Acadia on Mount Desert Island. The Gateway Center could also be used by commercial tours, boost carpooling and app-based ride sharing, and allow electric vehicles to charge up.
State owned and run by the MaineDOT in partnership with the National Park Service, Downeast Transportation, which operates Island Explorer, and the Maine Office of Tourism, the Gateway Center cost $32 million, including $27.7 million, to construct.
Planned for more than 20 years, complete funding for the project was uncertain until the first Trump administration awarded a stunning $9 million election-year grant in 2020, pushing financing to the finish line to tackle Acadia traffic and parking problems. US Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican up for reelection at the time, announced the grant as part of the Federal Transit Administration’s grants for buses and bus facilities program. Separately, in 2020, Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act, a bipartisan, multi-billion-dollar funding law, introduced by Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent and cosponsored by Collins, that provided $32.6 million for a maintenance facility at Acadia and $7.8 million to rehab water and wastewater systems in Acadia’s Schoodic District.
The Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton features Level 2 and fast-charging EV chargers and more than 400 spots in the day-use lot, which was mostly empty on a recent Friday.
Meanwhile, that same day, it was tough to find a place to park in the 270-space lot at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center 11 miles south in Acadia National Park.
Build the Gateway Center and Acadia crowds will eventually come?
Amanda Pollock, deputy chief of interpretation at Acadia, said there will be an adjustment period. The park will work with partners to communicate how visitors can use the Gateway Center and “we are optimistic that this will set us up for a successful first season of operation,” she added in a statement.
“Throughout the life of the building, we are confident that the Acadia Gateway Center will achieve the goals we have for the space,” she said in a statement.
Island Explorer buses departing from the Gateway Center are intended to serve day visitors to Mount Desert Island who are staying off island, Pollock stated. Ninety five percent of Acadia visitors travel by vehicle, causing Acadia traffic and parking problems.
An Island Explorer shuttle bus waits at an empty bus stop shelter at the Acadia Gateway Center, off to a slow start during a soft opening.
In all, there are more than 400 parking spaces at the Acadia Gateway Center, with 300 new spaces including 11 for oversized vehicles, and a preexisting 110 space Park & Ride lot. And there are 16 fast-charging and 9 Level 2 EV chargers.
Some people doubt the success of the Acadia Gateway Center, which comes when visitation at Acadia is nearly 4 million annually, almost double from 20 years ago.
“Personally, I don’t believe it will meet the lofty goals they have set simply due to its location,” Matt Hochman, who served 9 years on the Bar Harbor Town Council before deciding against seeking reelection this year, told us.
“I think if it were on island, say at the ferry terminal, it would be wildly successful. I believe most of the people causing the congestion are those staying in town and not day trippers, and if they are already on island, I doubt they are going to head out to Gateway to take a bus back in. Overall, I think the idea behind Gateway was solid and was a good idea. I just don’t personally believe that it will have the intended effect in its location in Trenton,” Hochman said in a Facebook message. “However, I hope I am wrong.”
Acadia National Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider and John Kaznecki pose with a mock-up of the 2017 Acadia annual pass, featuring Kaznecki’s winning photo. Kaznecki says the Island Explorer wouldn’t provide the park access he needs for photography. (NPS file photo)
John Kaznecki, a photographer whose photo was on the 2017 Acadia entrance pass, said he believes that most people will continue to drive to Acadia despite the Gateway Center. Most people need the convenience and freedom of driving, despite Acadia traffic and parking problems, he added.
“Take me for instance,” Kaznecki wrote in a Facebook message.
“I have many places to photograph. The bus serves no use. People who will take the bus are used to bus transportation. A lot are not.”
Easing Acadia traffic and parking problems not only aim for Gateway
Along with a motor vehicle reservation system on Cadillac Mountain and the Island Explorer shuttle, the Gateway Center is part of the effort to reduce traffic and parking tie-ups on Mount Desert Island. The center had a soft opening on Sept. 3 and will operate May to October.
There was a steady line for information from a ranger at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center on a recent sunny Friday, a stark contrast from the ranger’s booth on the same day at the Acadia Gateway Center after the latter’s soft opening.
While the primary function of the Gateway Center is intermodal transportation, the 11,000-square-foot information center could also relieve overcrowding and stress at the nearly 60-year-old Hulls Cove Visitor Center, which will remain open, Pollock added.
The Gateway information center includes new restrooms, separate desks for the Maine Office for Tourism and Acadia National Park ranger information and entrance passes, and the Park Store. It is also intended to provide a sense of arrival and orientation to the national park and offer information for Downeast Maine, Mount Desert Island, Trenton and statewide, she added.
Inside the Acadia Gateway Center, the National Park Service operates a desk for information and entrance passes. The nonprofit America’s National Parks runs the Park Store at the Gateway Center, which was also less crowded than the store at Hulls Cove that same Friday.
“If visitors choose to use the Acadia Gateway Center as an information center prior to driving on the island for the first time, they have the chance to learn about the Island Explorer and things to do on the island,” Pollock stated. “They then can bypass Hulls Cove Visitor Center, pick up the Island Explorer from whichever stop is most convenient for them, and most importantly, explore the park and its surrounding communities. This should relieve some of the overcrowding at Hulls Cove Visitor Center and ultimately improve the visitor experience.”
According to Pollock, more buses will be needed to make the Gateway Center a success. Downeast Transportation, which has operated an Island Explorer route to Bar Harbor and has had existing bus maintenance, a fueling station and offices at the site, plans to increase service at the Gateway Center, Pollock added.
The Maine DOT and the NPS, with support from the US Dept. of Transportation, is working to grow the fleet and hire more drivers, she added. Both would help alleviate Acadia traffic and parking problems.
The Gateway Center’s initial effort is to provide express service to the other Island Explorer transit hubs at Hulls Cove and the Village Green in Bar Harbor, where people can connect to routes serving other destinations on MDI, Pollock stated. As with other public transit systems, service is provided according to demand and to maximize benefits and efficiencies, she added.
The Island Explorer schedule, on a large display by the Acadia Gateway Center bus shelter, lists the times that the bus leaves for such destinations as the Oceanarium, Hulls Cove Visitor Center and the Bar Harbor Village Green. It’s about a 47-minute ride to the Village Green.
Take Island Explorer from Gateway Center to lessen the stress
Eric Stiles, president and CEO of Friends of Acadia, said the Gateway Center will benefit an increasing number of vacationers who are staying in home rentals, hotels and motels outside of Mount Desert Island in towns like Ellsworth, Trenton and Lamoine.
Despite signs that say “No Parking” and “Tow Away Zone,” parked cars in front of Jordan Pond House can bring traffic to a standstill during the busiest times. Taking the Island Explorer can be less stressful.
Their best option is to hop on the Island Explorer at the Gateway Center and take the shuttle to the national park, he said. “You can go anywhere on the island for free and it is a much more pleasurable experience than sitting in gridlock on the Park Loop Road,” or waiting for a parking space at Jordan Pond, Stiles told us in an interview in June.
The Gateway Center will also be important for a growing number of workers at hotels, restaurants and other businesses on Mount Desert Island, where most of Acadia is located, Stiles added.
Staff at hotels and motels in Bar Harbor can relax on a bus and get off at the Village Green in Bar Harbor or maybe directly at the workplace, Stiles said. It’s a much better experience to take the Island Explorer from the Gateway Center instead of driving a personal vehicle, he said. Many hotels pay for the bus to stop at their location, he added.
A tale of two visitor centers – Hulls Cove vs. Acadia Gateway
While the timber-frame Gateway Center just opened, nonetheless, the contrast was dramatic between the old Hulls Cove center and the new center in Trenton. Parking at the Hulls Cove center was jampacked and Island Explorers full of passengers were pulling in and out, while e-bike rentals, RVs, pedestrians and cars competed for space. At the Gateway Center, only a couple dozen vehicles or so were parked outside and several empty Island Explorers pulled through the new busway outside the center.
The Acadia Gateway Center boasts a soaring post and beam ceiling in the timber frame building. The space seemed cavernous with visitors yet to discover the less-crowded alternative to Hulls Cove Visitor Center.
People lined up to obtain information from rangers at the Hulls Cove center and the book and gift store was busy. By contrast, the Acadia Gateway Center seemed nearly empty inside.
Outside the Gateway Center during a visit on Friday, Eric and Gabriele Hamm of New Salem, MA said they would continue to drive their camper with 30-foot trailer into Acadia on a quick trip to the park, though they liked the concept of providing more bus transportation into Acadia.
“I don’t think so,” said Gabriele Hamm when asked if they would take the shuttle from the Gateway Center. “We like to be independent timewise.”
Brian and Jennie Steffen of Louisville, KY, said they received fantastic information at the center, and they believed the center’s shuttle buses and free parking are a great idea for people spending a full day at Acadia. However, they said they planned to stay multiple days, including lodging on Mount Desert Island, and also opted to drive their personal vehicle.
Brian Steffen, who works in IT, noted the price tag for the Gateway Center. “That’s insane,” he said. “That’s a really big building.”
Opinions divided on Acadia Gateway Center’s ability to reduce traffic
People on Mount Desert Island and visitors to Acadia are divided about the Gateway Center, and its role in reducing Acadia traffic and parking problems, according to interviews and more than 100 comments on the Acadia National Park Hiking Facebook group.
Jim Linnane, a volunteer with the Friends of Acadia, said the Acadia Gateway Center differs from other Maine tourism information centers because of its transit services and intention to encourage people to park their cars and take the Island Explorer to Acadia. He said he also likes that rangers are posted at the Gateway Center to provide up close information to people and maybe reduce use at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center.
The main entrance to the Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton is located off a sprawling plaza. With a credit card, you can also buy an entrance pass to Acadia National Park 24/7.
“For sure the NPS has a mission to preserve Acadia for the ‘enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations’,” Linnane told us. “The AGC [Acadia Gateway Center] does that in a small way.”
Wanda Dill Doane, who had driven an Island Explorer for 15 years, said that it won’t happen overnight, but people will eventually conclude that parking at the Acadia Gateway Center will be more convenient than wasting time driving around looking for a parking spot elsewhere. “Why not just take the IE [Island Explorer]?” she wrote. “One can hop on and off at any safe spot.”
Ian Hulbert of Bar Harbor said he believes the Acadia Gateway Center is a sign that people will eventually be regulated to ride a bus to use the national park.
“I’m sure that the park will continue to answer growing visitation with higher fees and limited access,” he wrote to us on Facebook.
Pollock, the Acadia spokeswoman, said the park has no plans to require visitors to enter the park via the Island Explorer.
Lauren Brunault, who is from Massachusetts and has visited Acadia three times and stayed multiple days, said she does not believe that buses at the Gateway Center will be used as much as expected. Most visitors stay multiple days and would need to drive to their hotel or other accommodation, she told us.
“We loved our visits and I’m excited to see the new Gateway Center,” she wrote in a Facebook message. But she added, “It is hard to see how it fits into my own plans or those of others who are visiting for multiple days.”
This NPS slide explains the partnerships involved with the Acadia Gateway Center, which opened to the public on Sept. 3 after more than 20 years of planning. Now, the real work begins in persuading people to stop north of Acadia, park a vehicle and take the Island Explorer into the park to relieve traffic congestion and help the environment. (NPS image)
A design shows the layout of services at the Acadia Gateway Center. (NPS image)
A massive outdoor plaza, located off the parking lot, leads to the Acadia Gateway Center, an intermodal transit and welcome center in Trenton, Maine.
At the Acadia Gateway Center, visitors can step into a rear plaza and get a distant view of the mountain skyline, including Dorr and Cadillac mountains to the left, on Mount Desert Island..
Solar panels sit on the roof of the Acadia Gateway Center. For renewal energy, the center also has Level 2 and fast-charging EV chargers, lots of natural light and geothermal heating and cooling.
A silver Toyota RAV-4 plug-in hybrid and a red Chevy Volt (behind the RAV-4) connect to Level 2 EV chargers at the Acadia Gateway Center. You need to download a ChargePoint app on your cellphone to pay for the charge.
While waiting for an Island Explorer inside, people can sit on train station-like chairs that fill a portion of the interior of the Acadia Gateway Center. You can also get a soda from a vending machine and pick up tourist literature for Acadia and other parts of Maine.