Travel & Parking Forecast Tools

Use Historical Travel Data To Plan Your Future Visits To Acadia

Just in time for peak season 2024, a project team including the Volpe Center at the U.S. Department of Transportation has developed a Recreational Travel Forecasting Tool (RTFT) for five pilot parks, including: Acadia National Park, Gateway Arch National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Mount Rushmore National Memorial. The tool is designed to help visitors make better informed decisions about when to visit a park, and also to set better expectations for congestion and crowding after visitors arrive.

Based on historical data, the RTFT provides a monthly calendar view of anticipated travel conditions. Parks may be more or less crowded than projected due to weather, closures, or other conditions. Here at Acadia, the historical data source is hourly inbound vehicle traffic from January 2021 through October 2023 at the park's primary entrance fee station along the Park Loop Road at Schooner Head Road.

Peak Season

May through October

• High Use (Red Diamond): 3 hours with ≥ 300 inbound vehicles/hour

• Medium Use (Yellow Triangle): 3 hours with ≥ 250 inbound vehicles/hour

• Low Use (Green Circle): < 3 hours with 250 inbound vehicles/hour

• High Use (Red Diamond): Sun May 26

• Low Use (Green Circle): All other days in May

• Medium Use (Yellow Triangle): Mon June 17; Thu June 20; Tue June 25

• Low Use (Green Circle): All other days in June

• Null Value: June 29-30

• High Use (Red Diamond): Tue July 23

• Medium Use (Yellow Triangle): Wed July 3; Fri July 5; Sat July 6; Sun July 7; Mon July 8; Wed July 10; Thu July 11; Wed July 17; Thu July 25; Tue July 20; Wed July 31

• Low Use (Green Circle): All other days in July

• Null Value: July 1-2

• High Use (Red Diamond): Mon Aug 12; Sat Aug 31

• Medium Use (Yellow Triangle): Thu Aug 1; Sun Aug 4; Mon Aug 5; Wed Aug 7; Thu Aug 8; Fri Aug 9; Sat Aug 10; Tue Aug 13; Thu Aug 15; Sat Aug 17; Sun Aug 18; Tue Aug 20; Wed Aug 21; Thu Aug 22; Thu Aug 29

• Low Use (Green Circle): All other days in August

• Null Value: Fri Aug 30

• High Use (Red Diamond): Sun Sept 1; Sat Sept 7; Sun Sept 8

• Medium Use (Yellow Triangle): Sat Sept 14; Mon Sept 16; Sat Sept 21; Wed Sept 25; Fri Sept 27; Sat Sept 28; Sun Sept 29; Mon Sept 30

• Low Use (Green Circle): All other days in September

• Null Value: Tue Sept 3

• High Use (Red Diamond): Thu Oct 3; Sun Oct 6; Mon Oct 7; Sat Oct 12; Sun Oct 13

• Medium Use (Yellow Triangle): Tue Oct 1; Wed Oct 2; Fri Oct 4; Sat Oct 5; Tue Oct 8; Wed Oct 9; Thu Oct 10; Fri Oct 11; Mon Oct 14; Tue Oct 15; Wed Oct 16; Thu Oct 17; Sat Oct 19

• Low Use (Green Circle): All other days in October

Non Peak Season

November through April

• High Use: 3 hours with ≥ 100 inbound vehicles/hour

• Medium Use: 3 hours with ≥ 50 inbound vehicles/hour

• Low Use: < 3 hours with 50 inbound vehicles/hour

• High Use (Red Diamond): Sat Nov 2

• Medium Use (Yellow Triangle): Sun Nov 3; Mon Nov 4; Fri Nov 8; Sat Nov 9; Sat Nov 23

• Low Use (Green Circle): All other days in November

• Null Value: Sat Nov 30

• High Use (Red Diamond): Wed Dec 25. Sun Dec 29

• Low Use (Green Circle): All other days in December

• Null Value: Dec 1-4; Dec 27

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