Navigating Cape Cod…Just Close Your Eyes
Cape Cod is an enigma. A peninsula in origin, it effectively became an island separated from the mainland by the creation of the Cape Cod Canal. For most of us who now call the Cape home, although we are connected by the Sagamore and Bourne bridges, we still refer to going off Cape as “going to the mainland”.
Navigating Cape Cod is a challenge to many of our visitors. It’s unique physical shape is likened to a flexed arm. Beginning at the shoulder after exiting one of the bridges are the Upper Cape towns of Bourne, Falmouth, Sandwich and Mashpee. The mid-section or bicep area is the Mid-Cape, which includes Barnstable, Yarmouth and Dennis. The Lower Cape is the forearm, stretching from the elbow of Chatham to the fist of Provincetown and comprising the towns of Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, and Truro. To further complicate the visitor, the towns of Eastham to Provincetown are also often referred to as the Outer Cape because only these towns border the Atlantic Ocean.
Other anomalies prevail when navigating the three major routes that traverse Cape Cod. Route 6, also known as the Mid-Cape Highway, runs from the Sagamore Bridge down the center of the Cape to Provincetown. On the Bay side, also known as the north side, is Route 6A, the Old King‘s Highway that unites the quieter, historic, and more scenic side of the Cape. Route 28 runs from Bourne to Orleans along the south side of the Cape, and is frequently more congested than the north side. There are times when you can be on Route 28 North, clearly going south or west, as it travels along the shoulder and underarm of Cape Cod. Route 6 and 6A meet up at the rotary in Orleans near the inner elbow of the Cape as you head east to the tip of the peninsula, though your compass reads due north. And finally, you enter Provincetown through the east end of town and drive west to reach the other end of town around the bended fist.
To further confound visitors, most Cape towns have more than one village within their borders. Hyannis, for example, though one of the more familiar places on the Cape, is not a separate community, but merely one of seven villages within the town of Barnstable, which also includes Centerville, Osterville, Cotuit, Marstons Mills, West Barnstable and Barnstable. It is also not uncommon for multiple villages within one town to have streets by the same name. Main Street in West Yarmouth is Route 28. Main Street in Yarmouthport goes by the name of Hallett Street and Route 6A. There are two Camp Streets in Hyannis. One will take you toward the hospital from Yarmouth; the other to Mill Pond. West Yarmouth and Yarmouthport are both within the town of Yarmouth. But there is no village called Yarmouth. And although there is a village called South Yarmouth, there is none called North Yarmouth.
But perhaps the most confusing part of traveling around Cape Cod is the phenomena of the traffic rotary. Whenever we go around the airport rotary in Hyannis, I close my eyes. Oh, I’m not driving, mind you, just a passenger with Rich at the wheel. While he is a very good negotiator of the circular traffic maze, I am not as confident of the other drivers approaching from all angles. So I close my eyes, adopt a Zen state-of-mind and breath deeply until we have successfully emerged. Of course, every time we negotiate the rotary, I am subjected to Rich’s rendition of the “rules of the rotary”. He is of the opinion, and not shy about sharing that opinion with me and whoever else may be listening, that 99% of drivers are clueless as to rotary etiquette.
The most apt description of rotary protocol appeared in today’s Cape Cod Times. The author summed it up this way: “Rotaries are just intersections with attitude. The concept is fairly simple, though it can be daunting at first. Keep a couple of things in mind to safely navigate a rotary. Go with the flow. Remember traffic in the rotary has the right of way. When you enter or exit, signal, look for an open space and move confidently. Keep to the inside until you are ready to exit. If you miss your exit, relax. The beauty of the rotary is that your exit will show up again. And again. And again.” And I say from her lips to God’s ears and everyone else entering and exiting the airport rotary. However, until I am confident that all drivers have read and understood how to negotiate a rotary, I’m still going to just close my eyes.
Other Fun Facts About Cape Cod:
- You say you are “on” the Cape, not “in” it.
- There is no bridge to Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard.
- There is no tunnel under the Cape Cod Canal.
- People who have moved to the Cape from somewhere else are called “washashores”.
- The Flyover is the new traffic configuration that resulted when the Sagamore Rotary was eliminated.