E-bikes have made the park more accessible to some riders. Others say that the bikes’ growing presence has changed some people’s experience of the carriage roads.
1 minute ago
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Viridian Law.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK—Some Bar Harbor residents have been worried over cyclists both in Acadia National Park and outside of it.
Etiquette and speed on the carriage roads as well as how cyclists get to the park from Bar Harbor have both been concerns.
According to Lisa Walker, a resident of Bar Harbor’s Hulls Cove, bikes—especially e-bikes—have changed the experience of walking on the carriage road.
“I had a personal experience of almost being run over by an e-bike. I walk with my dog, and it was scary. I had to pull the dog off his legs, jumping out of the way,” she said.
Walker’s comments came during the last meeting of the Acadia Advisory Commission. That resident-filled commission consults with the National Park Service about park management and development issues.
Walker continued, “The higher speeds of e-bikes are creating safety concerns when you think about pedestrians, families or slower cyclists, especially on blind curves.”
She added that there are more cyclists calling out and yelling to each other than in the past.
She was also worried about blind curves, and the e-bikes potentially eroding the gravel carriage roads more quickly. She wasn’t encouraging a ban, but possible designated hours and preserving safety.
Since they were first allowed in 2019, advocates for e-bikes have said that they allow more people bike access on the park’s carriage roads and provide a help for riders who need a boost to get up the steep hills from Bar Harbor proper into the park.
In 2024, Bill Trotter wrote for the Bangor Daily News that “Helen LaRochelle, of Levis, Quebec, said using a regular bike for her is not an option. She said she brought her e-bike to Acadia from home because she has a neurological issue that limits her muscle power.”
“It’s very good for people with mobility problems,” LaRochelle told Trotter. “It’s magical, because I can do something with my husband.”
At that time, it was estimated that half of all bikes in the park were e-bikes.
During the commissioners’ meeting, Superintendent Kevin Schneider said that Class 1 e-bikes are permitted in the park and that the park has done assessments with Worcester Polytechnic Institute that determined that e-bikes were going 12 mph while traditional bicycles were going 11.
“They’re actually not going that much faster,” Schneider said.
The speed limit is 20 mph.
But, park officials said, those e-bike riders could be novice cyclists and not know bikes or the rules of the road as well as traditional cyclists.
“As the carriage road use increases, and you get more congestion, it is more important to make sure everyone knows how to behave so that we can share that experience,” Schneider said.
The park is looking at a concessions contract within the park for bike rentals, which could increase safety orientations in the park.
The use of the carriage roads has basically increased at the same pace of the park, officials said.
Commission member Kendall Davis said he’d heard of similar concerns when mountain bikes were first introduced to the park.
93% of the bikes used in the park are rented, ANP Management Assistant John Kelly said.
There were at least two bicycle accidents in the park on Friday, September 18. Statistics about the number of accidents are not currently available, but they are common.
LOCAL TRAFFIC WORRIES
Bicycles in the park and around the island have been a hot topic for years. Recently, Bar Harbor has created some more formalized objectives around bicyclist safety as part of another overarching safety plan.
During Bar Harbor’s public engagement process for its Vision Zero plan, consultants and town staff engaged with the public through multiple methods to try to determine concerns about safety on the town’s roads. It also collected data about crashes.
During the community engagement piece, the plan notes that “concerns were raised about cyclists and scooter riders not following traffic rules, including use of sidewalks and wrong-way travel on one-way roads.”
They also spoke to the lack of bike lanes throughout the town and worries about cyclists sharing the road with motor vehicles.
The link between the town and the park is also mentioned in the plan. Areas like transit hubs, campgrounds, and areas with a lot of pedestrians were included in the consultant’s analysis for risk.
“These areas see higher levels of foot, bicycle, and vehicle activity, and they are strongly associated with injury crashes,” the plan states. “Although attractions are located along only about 8% of Bar Harbor’s roadways, they account for 23% of fatal and severe injury crashes, 43% of pedestrian injury crashes, and 71% of bicycle injury crashes.”
While there are many cycling routes into the park from local towns, a good deal of cyclists enter from downtown Bar Harbor via West Street Extension and Highbrook Road; others might head up Eagle Lake Road to connect into the carriage road system; some head down Ledgelawn Avenue to cycle the Park Loop Road, others enter through the Hulls Cove Visitor Center.
Some residents near Highbrook and Cleftstone Roads in Bar Harbor have said they’ve seen close calls in their area that involve cyclists and worry that those narrow residential roads weren’t designed to host substantial cyclists along with pedestrians, runners, and vehicles.
“A safer alternative would be to direct cyclists toward the Duck Brook Path and park entrance across from College of the Atlantic. This may be achievable through relatively modest improvements, such as installing a crosswalk, relocating directional signs, and making the Duck Brook entrance more visible,” one resident who preferred to remain anonymous suggested. “Given the considerable visitor traffic generated by the hotels along Eden Street, those businesses could also play a constructive role by promoting safer and more appropriate bicycle access to the park for their guests.”
Local bike shops across the island offer safety, travel, and road tips to those who rent bikes from them.
The Town of Bar Harbor’s Bar Harbor Vision Zero plan outlines the town’s “campaign to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries on our roads, acknowledges that even one loss of life on our roads is unacceptable.”
The plan writes that there are multiple areas where there is a lack of bicycle infrastructure.
“Areas that lack dedicated bike lanes, bike racks, or other facilities that support safe and convenient biking. This includes places where bike lanes are needed, where existing bike lanes are poorly maintained, or where bike lanes are not clearly marked,” the plan states.
“Bar Harbor should support bicycle access to Acadia, but it should do so through routes designed to protect cyclists, pedestrians, residents, and motorists alike,” the resident said.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Acadia National Park Biking Guide from Bicycle New England
Acadia National Park Bike information from the NPS
RECENT PRESS RELEASES AND BRIEFS
To see all the press releases, click here. To see our news, click here. For the full archive, click here. All of these are on our dedicated website.
HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY
Help us keep the Bar Harbor Story going, brining dialy, free, hyper-local news to our community from people who live here.
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other.
We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going.
If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship.
It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light.
Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now.
Thank you so much for being here.
Founding member information can be found here.
Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you.
Discover more from Bar Harbor Story
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.