An old battle reignited Thursday night at a virtual hearing, when Woods Hole denizens gave Steamship Authority brass an earful about an early morning freight boat and the truck noise that stems from it. Vineyarders defended the early boat as logistically essential. For its 2021 operating schedule, the SSA has proposed a 5:30 am freight boat, namely the MV Governor, which will only carry trucks under 40 feet long. Woods Hole residents shaped their distaste for that early boat into a petition that triggered the hearing.
As they have perennially, Woods Hole residents, particularly those who live along Woods Hole Road, said the daybreak din of braking and downshifting trucks degrades their quality of life. And as they also have, year in and year out, Vineyarders said the commercial impact of nixing the early ferry was too great for an Island that cannot receive cargo 24 hours a day.
Former SSA attorney Steve Sayers, who moderated the hearing, said at the outset a special task force meant to troubleshoot such issues, though still in its formative stages, once again has forward momentum after stalling when the pandemic struck. Neither he nor any other SSA official voiced a position on the early boat or the trucks connected with it. Sayers did say the SSA plans to deploy decibel-measuring instruments to evaluate truck noise once the ferry line’s fiscal state improves.
Melinda Loberg, chair of the Tisbury selectmen, said “crucial goods and services” are conveyed by the early boat.
“I live near the port, and can hear, like probably the people in Woods Hole, the backup beeps of trucks loading and unloading,” she said. “I know that we’ve all chosen the place where we live, and there are some impacts from that decision, and I know that some of them are negative, both for us and for you in Falmouth, in Woods Hole. I also just want to remind people that if you live on the mainland, your roads operate 24/7. If you live on the Island, your roads are limited to a certain number of hours of the day, and travel cannot happen before 5:30 [am] or after 9:45 [pm], when the Steamship Authority has its regular schedule. So we have to pack a lot into a shorter period of time, and I am just in favor of keeping that boat for the businesses and people of Martha’s Vineyard.”
Artist Jonathan Goldman, who lives in Woods Hole, said justification for early trucks carrying important products “never seems to pan out in my mind.”
Goldman went on to say he’d “really like to know what those are,” and argued he could abide “time-sensitive” medical products delivered to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital at that hour, “but if they’re not life-saving devices,” he questioned the urgency and utility of the early run across Vineyard Sound.
He described the SSA as historically unreceptive to the concerns of Woods Hole residents about trucks and early boats. “From the Woods Hole perspective, for countless years, this is falling on deaf ears,” he said.
John Gore, who said he lives on Woods Hole Road near the intersection of Church Street, expressed displeasure with trucks’ noise and speed.
“We’re unable to use our front bedroom because of the noise of trucks,” he said. Gore said noise comes not just from trucks headed to the ferry terminal, but from trucks exiting it. Those trucks “accelerate through their gears” and create noise and danger, he said. “It’s just amazing to me that there’s not been an accident.”
Woods Hole resident Damien Kuffler called for a rewrite of the Enabling Act to provide greater accountability and oversight in general, and specifically more rights to Falmouth beyond being a means to fulfill the ferry line’s mission.
Becky Conners, general manager at Sands of Time Inn and Harbor House, who lives at the intersection of Church Street and Woods Hole Road, said she’s had “many close calls” with trucks crossing the road to get to work.
Conners described the downshifting sounds made by trucks headed to the terminal as “horrible, loud, jarring” and said she cannot use the front bedrooms in her house.
Dukes County commissioner Christine Todd spoke against eliminating the early freight boat. Among other negative effects, Todd said, loss of the boat would further increase the already inflated transportation costs for Vineyard cargo. Todd was unsold on suggestions raised at the hearing that the problem could be solved by channeling Vineyard freight through New Bedford. Todd questioned the residency of hearing attendees, claiming they were meddling in affairs in which they had no legitimate stake.
“I’m sympathetic to the position of the community of Woods Hole. We’re up to 62 participants who are on this call, many of whom, I think, or some of whom, aren’t from Woods Hole [and] are trying to determine how 17,000-plus Islanders are affected by this, and so that concerns me very much.”
Dukes County commissioner Keith Chatinover was in accord with Todd. “The 5:30 boat must continue to operate, and it must continue to operate from Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard,” he said. “We have heard as commissioners from countless local vendors who provide goods and services that the 5:30 freight boat is critical to goods and trucks getting on the Island — not only on the Island, but then off of the Island in a timely manner, so they’re not causing congestion an hour before people are out and about. And like Christine, I sympathize with the people in Woods Hole, and I really understand that you may not think this is an ideal scenario.”
Woods Hole resident Nathaniel Trumbull, a longtime SSA critic, spoke at length. Among his arguments were that the SSA “mismanaged” a previous New Bedford freight experiment, and has refused to issue an RFP for another attempt.
“This smacks of protectionism,” he said, and added the argument the SSA won’t survive through the winter if some traffic is siphoned off is an “antiquated” concept. He said a New Bedford freight route might alleviate traffic volumes on the Vineyard, and provide the security of “redundancy.”
Sayers said all the evening’s comments, coupled with any written commentary, will be compiled into a report and presented to the SSA board for consideration.
I’m hoping the Woods Holers were served good cheese with their whines.
new news– the residents of woods hole have every right to express their displeasure about truck traffic going down their roads every morning at 5 AM.
Fabulous!
Another reason to have electric vehicles and ferries.
To run electric ferries how much will the ticket prices have to increase?
AJ Over the long haul, electric ferries are cheaper to run because of reduced maintenance cost and cheaper fuel per mile prices.
Electric ferries also have the added benefit of no diesel exhaust if you happen to be sitting outside. No chance of fuel leaks, and no chance of having the bilges pumped out accidentally.
But back to the cost. The short answer to your question is that as long as we can get competent management, ticket prices should go down.
Donx3…where would you propose putting the massive recharging stations that would be required? Not a lot of available space in WH, VH, OB.
tq– good point. My rough calculation of that is larger than I would have expected. It comes out to about 8,000 cu ft. or a 20 ft cube, for a quick charging station. Likely less for slower charging station. But we could easily expect it to be the size of 2 car garage.
Do you have any more accurate info on that question ?
Probably wouldn’t need one in O.B
Thanks for bringing that up. I hadn’t thought about it.
I’m with Woods Hole on some of this — when their houses were purchased, many of them, the kind of traffic that existed then was exponentially less. It’s not as simple as “we all choose where we buy our houses”. And for Vineyarders who whine that Woods Hole is whining, give us a break! Do you really want to hear trucks squeal at 5:30? But it sounds like the actual problem is dangerous driving and gear shifting and brakes in that department. Is it really the case that things can’t be adjusted? I have NEVER been up that early on MV and I’ve lived here almost a decade (the rare night owl who lives here) but I find it hard to believe that island traffic is at top rush hour before 7:30-8 AM. We really can’t push things up? That seems ridiculous. Maybe commission a traffic study and see what the facts are.
It’s not about Island traffic. It’s about the trucking coming down out of Boston or from NYC being able to operate as efficiently as possible before they even get on that boat. When you force them to run in traffic, you force them to run dirty and expensive. Thats more pollution for the Cape and higher costs for the Island. Or worse, trucks kill the route entirely.
This is the Vineyard.
Stop being sensible.
New Bedford was already tried a couple of times for freight and failed. These people in Woods Hole constantly complain about all things SSA. I think the SSA was there before you bought your house and will be there long after.
Food and products have to be delivered to the island in the early morning to schedule main street deliveries to not screw up traffic too much on island. The trucking companies and the SSA have tried to be very accommodating to the Woods Hole residents, but they won’t let it go until they shut down all traffic morning, noon or night. Good luck with that
i happen to know a lot of people who live and work in woods hole. they are warm, friendly and generous. most islanders think of woods hole as just a bump in the road that you pass through on the way to and from the boat. but it is a proud little village with a rich history, just as the island is. smug islanders may say, “well, they shouldn’t have chosen to live there” yet i believe many of the people who live along woods hole road live in houses that have been in the family for many years. i liken it to chilmark (i don’t know why) where they have family houses that have been passed down and are now occupied by grown children, grandchildren, etc. so even though they chose to live there, they aren’t newbies who decided to put up a mansion on woods hole road and then realized it was noisy. many are simply invested in their homes. of course, we know there are quite a few little inns along the road as well, which i’m sure we are sometimes glad they are there when we get “stuck on the other side”. so here is their problem, as i understand it. the huge freight trucks that barrell down the road in the wee hours of the morning are breaking down the curves and hill leading to the steamship. also sometimes when they arrive early and aren’t allowed down into the lot, they will park along the side of the road or even side of driveways when homeowners and hotel guests are trying to sleep. i imagine if one lived in vineyard haven or oak bluffs on the ONLY exit road from the steamship and every morning you had to wake to that noise, it would be very disturbing. maybe a compromise can be made but it bothers me when some island people just want to brush this issue aside and not work with it. that’s my 2 cents.
I feel bad for the people that have to deal with this. I completely understand the need for getting supplies to the island and I don’t know that there is a good solution but some common ground needs to be found somehow. It’s not fair to just keep blowing these folks off. We put a man on the moon there must be a way to make this work better for everyone.
Increased freight from New Bedford seems the obvious solution. What’s the problem with diverting some to New Bedford, a truly commercial port?
Great points, oceanna & BigT. I do hope there’s some middle ground to be found. If not, I can understand why the needs of MV have to be prioritized, but we shouldn’t fault those in Woods Hole for voicing frustration. I’m guessing any of us would feel the same in their shoes. Islanders (me included) have complained about far less. Imagine if any of these residents have dogs. ???? Mine would turn into Looney Tunes if they had to hear trucks outside the driveway that early.
Eliminating the early boats will make this more expensive for islanders and increase pollution for the people of Woods Hole. When trucks run slow, they run dirty and expensive. It is ideal to have them running at off hours throughout the week rather than force them to sit in high season traffic down the docks.
It seems like anyone with any grasp of these realities left the conversation long ago.
Sally—There are financial trade offs– just because it might cost another 2 cents to get a t shirt here does not mean the people of woods hole have to suffer. there are more considerations than just the Vineyard people and their pocketbooks. Why would trucks “run slow”(er) later in the day ? And PLEASE, if you are concerned about the air pollution in Woods hole, please ask the steamship parking employees to tell people to turn off their cars when waiting for the boat.
The trucks run slower later in the day because there is more traffic. Carriers operate on paper thin margins as it is. Making their work any less profitable will only incentivize them to abandon the route entirely.
The way to fix the Woods Hole problem is to move the whole.operation to New Bedford.
New Bedford is a true commercial port, not some sleepy little out of the way Cape Cod town, they like trucks 7/24.
The SSA is a true commercial operation, it has no place in a sleepy little research based village.
The fun part will be watching the Woods Hole merchants scream and yell.
I am going to guess that over half of their annual gross income comes from Vineyard traffic.
Fact check: Only 3-4 Woods Hole businesses adjacent to the Steamship Authority terminal in reality benefit from the Steamship Authority. Pie in the Sky, Quicks Hole, Woods Hole Inn, one or two of the ice cream shops, and that’s about it. Very few Vineyard travelers venture to merchants past the Eel Pond Bridge. If we’re talking about truck drivers only, Pie in the Sky is the only merchant they might visit and they don’t have time for it. Pie has more than enough local business, thank you. The vast majority of Vineyard travelers simply don’t leave an extra cent in Woods Hole or Falmouth, except perhaps at the filling station. It’s very hard to quantify what the Steamship Authority brings to Falmouth at all except for congestion and embarkation fees, for which Falmouth’s own budget isn’t desperate. The Steamship Authority pays no taxes to the town, nor has it ever been generous enough to offer even a small PILOT contribution. (Watch the SSA at the end of the year as it metes out its assessments to port towns due to SSA operating losses this year and 5-10 years of embarkation fees to Falmouth will be gone in one fell swoop).
This has been raised from time to time, but increasingly, it’s a fantastic idea. Is any current talk of this limited to freight only or the whole operation?
I’m just wondering if the use of Jake Brakes is prohibited along this route?
If not that would be a good place to start on reducing the noise.
Just a thought
The problem with the use of Jake Brakes is that they do not allow the service brakes to get hot enough for them to fail.
I feel so bad for wh residents putting up with this. it’s like having DOPES for neighbors it saps your peace