Traffic backups approaching the Steamship Authority terminal in Woods Hole remain a pain point for both travelers and residents of the village.

“We’re regularly spending 15 or 20 minutes in traffic … basically held hostage on Woods Hole Road,” frequent SSA critic Nat Trumbull said at last week’s port council meeting in Falmouth.

“It does not feel like business as usual [and] it really doesn’t seem viable going forward,” Mr. Trumbull said.

Steamship Authority general manager Robert Davis and director of shoreside operations Alison Fletcher said the boat line is working on multiple fronts to relieve the congestion: hiring additional staffers and police details, opening an additional check-in booth for vehicle reservations and providing a golf cart to speed slow-moving passengers to the slip.

They’re also using the SSA website, newsletters and lighted highway signs to remind motorists that there is no ferry parking in Woods Hole, a message Ms. Fletcher said has been slow to catch on.

“That still is an issue: People seem to just think they can park in Woods Hole. … which hasn’t happened in 20 years, almost,” she said, attributing about a third of the terminal traffic to drivers vainly seeking to leave their cars and walk aboard.

“The messaging is out there. Now, we just have to get them to read the message and follow it,” said Ms. Fletcher, who told the port council that misguided drivers are contributing significantly more to Woods Hole traffic congestion than the ongoing construction project at the terminal, where work is going on inside the new ticket building.

“The construction crew works great with our staff,” she said.

While Mr. Davis acknowledged the inconvenience of having a fenced-off construction zone in the middle of the terminal, he too defended the project from charges it’s worsening traffic.

“There seems to be some standard times that we end up having a backup and some of those times — most of those times, actually — are when there is actually no construction going on, the workers have all gone home for the day, or it’s a weekend,” Mr. Davis said.

The Steamship Authority board of governors, for which the port council is an advisory body, meets on the Vineyard next Tuesday at 10 a.m. in Oak Bluffs town hall.