Drivers in Provincetown know that getting around in a car or truck can be tricky, especially during peak tourist season in summer. Roads in the Cape's outermost town are narrow, and parking spaces are hard to find. It's for this reason that Provincetown Selectmen asked the Cape Cod Commission to do a comprehensive traffic circulation study.
WCAI’s Kathryn Eident talked with the Commission's technical services director, Glenn Cannon, about what the plan entails.
The study is still in the data gathering stages, but Cannon says the study is confirming some of their suspicions, while also teaching some new lessons.
“(Provincetown has) had this problem for years and we’ve helped them with selective projects,” he said. “But this is one where the town came forward and said, ‘We have this traffic circulation problem.’”
The study includes everything from cars, trucks and buses to walkers and cyclists. Cannon says selectmen were particularly concerned with how visitors feel when they come to town and try to park.
“Their real concern being they would drive into town, they would look for a parking space, they can’t find one, and they would leave the town frustrated,” he said.
One question officials have is where to put signs. Cannon says they’re considering signs on Route 6 that direct visitors to some of the town’s larger lots.
“Once they get into that parking space, to make sure they have directions to be able to walk downtown,” he said. “Now many people are doing it, but they’re kind of feeling their way through—there isn’t clear way-finding in town, so we’re going to help with that also.”
Cannon says the Commission has a new tool to help them more accurately track traffic patterns. It uses the GPS tracking in drivers’ smart phones or car radios to develop traffic patterns. Cannon says that while they’re still getting used to what the data means, it’s causing them to think twice about some of their old assumptions.
“There seems to be a couple inconsistencies in there, maybe that Conwell Street is a little more popular than I originally thought it was,” he said. “I knew it was a popular way to get into town, but it does seem to handle the majority of traffic going in there.”
Cannon says they hope to have something for the public and town officials to take a look at by early next year.
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Provincetown Looks for Answers to Traffic and Parking Woes
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