Cape Cod National Seashore Completes Construction Projects for Summer Season

The new Province Lands Road has opened in Provincetown. The new Herring Cove Beach North Parking lot is just weeks away from being open. Photo courtesy of the Cape Cod National Seashore Facebook page.

PROVINCETOWN – The summer season is close to being in full swing on Cape Cod and some construction projects have recently been completed at the National Seashore.

The stairs at Marconi Beach in Wellfleet opened prior to Memorial Day Weekend after being damaged by fall storms.

National Seashore Chief of Facilities and Maintenance Karst Hoogeboom said it is important to provide access to the popular Wellfleet beach.

“It’s on the outer beach and it’s a very clean beach with an uninterrupted shoreline that is great for surfing, general sunbathing and swimming,” Hoogeboom said.

Seashore officials are looking into various ways to provide access to the beach. Two sets of stairs at Nauset Light Beach were removed due to continued storm damage and a path was developed to maintain year-round access.

Similar actions at Marconi Beach would be much more difficult because the bluff is much higher.

“But we are looking at what options there might be out there for not having to go through this process of replacing the stairs every single year and every single time there is a storm that erodes the bluff enough that the stairs collapse,” Hoogeboom said.

The relocated Province Lands Road at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown is also open despite continued construction of the new North Parking Lot.

The road was opened a few weeks ago and is fully operational.

Hoogeboom said the parking lot is well ahead of schedule and is close to completion. All of the plantings are done and the paving has been completed.

“Right now we are putting up the sand fencing to help protect the dune and as soon as that is done we should be able to reopen the parking lot,” Hoogeboom said.

Officials are optimistic that the new parking lot will be reopened for the Fourth of July.

The project was contracted to be completed by December 31.

“We are grateful that we have a good contractor and they have moved at great speed to give us the project,” Hoogeboom said.

Officials are asking walkers and bikers to stay out of the construction area and the new plantings at Herring Cove North to allow the beachgrass to stabilize the area.

“We do have designated walks to the beach,” Hoogeboom said.

Mobi-Mat material is being installed this week, which will provide access paths to the beach.

Beach visitors are also asked to help protect endangered pipping plovers that have nested in the dune at Herring Cove North.

A section of the beach north of the bathhouse is closed to pets, but visitors may continue to walk leashed pets south of the bathhouse.

Future announcements about National Seashore projects will be posted to the national seashore’s website at www.nps.gov/capecod, on the park’s Facebook page, and on Twitter at @CapeCodNPS.

By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter

About CapeCod.com NewsCenter

The award-winning CapeCod.com NewsCenter provides the Cape Cod community with a constant, credible source for local news. We are on the job seven days a week.



CapeCod.com
737 West Main Street
Hyannis, MA 02601
Contact Us | Advertise Terms of Use 
Employment and EEO | Privacy