
The Edgartown planning board has begun gathering information and suggestions in the latest attempt to solve, or at least improve the traffic snarl created in the village by cars headed to Chappaquiddick during the summer months.
In a fight won inch by inch and hour by hour, an excavator aboard the On Time III dug a channel through a field of ice in Edgartown harbor Saturday morning, freeing the Chappy ferry to run for the first time since 8 p.m. Friday night.
Edgartown selectmen received complaints last week about the line of vehicles that forms at the ferry to Chappaquiddick, which they say hampers access to their homes and poses a safety hazard in peak season.
For the first time since at least 2007, ice in the Edgartown harbor prevented the Chappaquiddick ferry from completing a trip across the harbor Monday morning. Capt. Jeff LaMarche was hampered by thick ice.
Jeff LaMarche and Becca Hamilton, both captains on the Chappaquiddick ferry, were married on the deck of the On Time II under a sky of pale blue at 1400 hours on Saturday afternoon. The ferry was dressed for the occasion in festive signal flags.
A Chappaquiddick man and his truck were safely rescued from the Edgartown harbor late Monday morning after the man drove off the ferry ramp on the Chappy side and landed in the water. The incident prompted an immediate call to emergency responders including police, fire and rescue, and attracted a small crowd around the harbor on Memorial Day.