Thousands of Vineyard-bound vacationers descended on the Steamship Authority terminal in Woods Hole this Fourth of July weekend, causing record automobile standby lines and hours of gridlock in the Falmouth port town.

The traffic reached crisis level Saturday morning, when the standby line exceeded 600 vehicles, filling the terminal lots and stretching up Woods Hole Road. The standby line was shut off at 9 a.m., leading to gridlock when SSA staffers rerouted cars arriving without ferry reservations.

The morning snarls caused long delays for SSA shuttle buses carrying passengers from the boat line’s off-site parking lots to the ferry terminal. A few shuttle buses took more than two and a half hours to make the usually short trip, frustrating both passengers and boat line staff.

Both Falmouth and state police were called to Woods Hole to help direct traffic and ease tensions among frustrated drivers and passengers. Although tempers occasionally flared, police reported no SSA-related arrests over the weekend.

The record gridlock in Woods Hole registered shock waves in the Vineyard community throughout the weekend. Vineyard SSA governor Ronald H. Rappaport said he was stunned by the reports from the mainland on Saturday.

“No one anticipated the enormous volume of traffic,” Mr. Rappaport said yesterday. “It was unprecedented in the history of the authority and multiples ahead of what we had experienced in prior years. . . . We plainly were overwhelmed by the demand.”

To accommodate the unexpected weekend demand, the SSA ran extra ferries to the Vineyard early Saturday morning at midnight, 2:30, 4 and 5 a.m. These ferries serviced standby cars that arrived Friday and early Saturday, Mr. Rappaport said.

But when the standby line swelled to almost 700 at 9 a.m. Saturday, SSA general manager Armand Tiberio halted the sale of further standby tickets to prevent further late-night vessel runs. The last of those in Saturday’s standby line left Woods Hole on the final 10:45 p.m. vessel. Mr. Tiberio said — a wait of more than 14 hours.

The cutoff of standby passage forced many people to leave their cars behind in the SSA’s off-site parking lots in Falmouth. By 2:45 p.m. Saturday, all of the boat line’s available parking — some 4,000 spaces — was filled, Mr. Rappaport said.

Mr. Tiberio attributed the record surge in Woods Hole to a number of factors, including the extended holiday weekend.

Another factor is that July 1 happened to be on a Saturday, and that is a transition day for many residences [on the Vineyard],” he said.

The intense traffic caused headaches for thousands of passengers who arrived in Woods Hole Saturday morning and afternoon. Some people found themselves waiting more than an hour for a shuttle bus transport from the SSA’s off-site parking lots to the ferry terminal.

Other shuttle bus passengers, like Hays Trott of Vineyard Haven, waited more than two and a half hours on the bus before arriving at the ferry terminal. SSA drivers are instructed not to let people off the buses because of safety concerns, so tensions rose fast among the passengers, Miss Trott said.

“It was so nightmarish, I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “People were infuriated and screaming at the bus driver. Women were crying because they had to go to the bathroom so bad.”

Mike Bombardiere of Norfolk told a similar story about his bus ride. “For a while it was kind of funny, but then people started getting a little nasty,” he said. “People were trying to jump out of the bus, from windows and emergency exits.”

State troopers and Falmouth police were called in to quell the scene, boarding buses and instructing passengers not to leave. Later, police were able to divert the shuttles to the outgoing lane on Woods Hole Road and allow passengers to arrive at the terminal on time.

“It was at the point of being overwhelming,” said Sgt. Andras Nyari of the Falmouth Police Department. “Luckily, nothing got out of hand.”

Sergeant Nyari said several cars were towed for parking illegally around the terminal area, including automobiles “just abandoned in the street.” He added that many residents in the Woods Hole area were frustrated by the surge in weekend traffic.

“A lot of people have gotten used to the idea that we are a port town for the Island,” Sergeant Nyari said. “But I don’t think anyone anticipated this.”

By early afternoon, traffic on Woods Hole Road was moving steadily and shuttle buses were experiencing only minor delays.

But the earlier snarls led to a crush of passenger ticket customers at the terminal. At one point, the passenger ticket line extended out of the terminal doors and up the hill to the bridge overlooking the parking lot. Several times, passenger travel was cut off when the ferries reached their U.S. Coast Guard established maximums.

Despite the intense overcrowding, many passengers remained calm throughout the long delays. Susan Hall of Boston said she arrived at an SSA parking lot at 10 a.m., and did not make it to the Vineyard until 4:30 p.m. But yesterday she said the ordeal in Woods Hole did not ruin her trip.

“There was a lot of talk among [passengers] about never coming to the Vineyard again,” Miss Hall said. “It was pretty awful. But when we got to the island, everything was kind of erased.”

Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce executive director Randi Vgea said yesterday that she was distressed by the crisis in Woods Hole and its possible negative impact on the Island’s image.

“We have to be mindful of the fact that this Island is a fragile commodity and a finite resource,” she said. “There are limits. I think that everyone needs to appreciate what their limits are.”

Despite the slew of traffic problems, Mr. Tiberio praised the efforts of SSA staff in sorting out Saturday’s Woods Hole mess. “Everyone pitched in and did a tremendous job. I was very impressed with their ability to work with the problem,” he said.

SSA management also continued to assess the weekend crush and outlined a possible plan for future summer holidays. According to Mr. Tiberio, ideas in preliminary discussion among SSA officials include:

• The total elimination of standby service on peak holiday weekends. Under such a plan, the SSA would presell all of the vehicle tickets during specified holiday dates, and allow only drivers with reservations onto vessels, the general manager said.

• The creation of off-site SSA ticketing outlets, possibly at the boat line parking lots. The additional outlets would help ease the congestion in the cramped main terminal in Woods Hole, Mr. Tiberio said.

• Major public information campaigns to educate visitors about any future SSA standby policy changes. The campaigns would also encourage Vineyarders to not bring cars to the Island, Mr. Tiberio said.

“We can only move so many vehicles, if you do it by standby or reservation,” Mr. Tiberio said. “We need to make every effort to not get into this situation again.”

Mr. Rappaport yesterday gave support to Mr. Tiberio’s efforts in finding solutions to the holiday crunch in Woods Hole. He also renewed his call for a new SSA parking lot in Falmouth or at Otis Air Force Base.

“We have to redouble our efforts to get additional off-site parking on the outskirts of Falmouth or at Otis Air Force Base, not only for parking but also to stage standby vehicles to keep them out of Woods Hole.”

As many weekend vacationers prepare to depart the Vineyard today and Wednesday, Mr. Tiberio said he did not expect standby traffic to reach Woods Hole levels. He said many drivers already have return reservations for their automobiles.

“I’m sure we’re going to have some traffic on Tuesday and Wednesday,” he said. “But not the same problems.”

This article appears in July 4, 1995.