Middle Cove traffic jam: Can anything more be done to ease the capelin traffic congestion? - Action News
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Middle Cove traffic jam: Can anything more be done to ease the capelin traffic congestion?

It's capelin season again in Middle Cove, which means a whole lot of traffic congestion on Marine Drive near Middle Cove beach.
John Kennedy is the mayor of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove. (Cecil Haire/CBC)

The tickets have been written, and the signs have gone up but still, capelin season means traffic jams near Middle Cove Beach in the town of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove.

Each year when the capelinroll, so do the vehicles: Hundreds of people flocking to the beach, parking their cars up and down both sides ofMarine Drive.

Mayor John Kennedy says only a few people are breaking the rules, but it's causing a big headache for the town. If cars are parked on both sides, it's difficult for emergency vehicles to get to the public park, he says.

"Anything that's been listed is there for the safety of everyone that's there, and that's the message that we're trying to get through," he told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

But despite the repeated warnings, the traffic congestion comesback each year.

"I don't know if there's anything else we can do," Kennedy said.

"I mean we've done public awareness campaigns, we've posted signs, we've talked to people down there. You just try to repeat the message often enough, and hopefully it'll get through."

Kennedy says the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary had to make multiple visits on Wednesday night to ticket vehicles.

The Constabulary did not have an estimate of tickets written, but it did say that it does tend to see people parked on both sides of the "alreadynarrow roadway."

"[This]prevents two-way traffic and potentially fire and emergency vehicles," saidConst. Geoff Higdon.

With files from the St. John's Morning Show