$3.3M renovation to battered parking area expected to last 20 years.

PROVINCETOWN — With the snip of a half-dozen scissors early Monday at the northern end of Herring Cove Beach, a long-awaited parking lot officially opened.

“How many times do you get to say, ‘It’s better than we ever thought it was ever going to be?’” U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., said as he turned toward state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown.

Earlier, Keating said that since he was first elected in 2010, Peake had been talking to him about the parking lot.

“It’s true,” Peake said, laughing.

The $3.3 million renovation was part of a $10 million list of capital projects Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent Brian Carlstrom announced in September, but planning had been underway for years. A larger parking lot at the southern end of the beach is protected by dunes from winter storm surges, while the drive-up-and-park northern lot — favored for its sunset views — has been battered in the last decade to the point where only a few of the 208 parking spaces remained.

The parking lot and a section of Province Lands Road were moved more than 200 feet inland and raised about 5 feet. A long dune that once separated the road and the parking lot has been flattened. Now, anyone driving along the new section of Province Lands Road, biking along the parallel bike trail or parking at the lot has an unobstructed view of the water.

The renovation is expected to last at least 20 years, which beats spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs each year, Carlstrom said.

“It looks beautiful,” Select Board member John Golden said. “It’s a lovely new way to see the beach.”

Bicyclist Tammy Perzanoski of Connecticut agreed as she stopped on her daily 10-mile ride from North Truro to see what the gathering was all about.

“For me, it has been special this year for this to be open,” Perzanoski said. “Normally you would have to ride on the road through this section of the trail. It's beautiful because you can see the water as you ride. It’s just amazing.”

The beach has typically been the most popular of the six beaches with lifeguards in the Seashore, but visitation numbers have been down in the last few years, which in turn can affect the economy of the town, a Provincetown tourism official has said in recent years.

Last year Nauset Light Beach in Eastham had the most visitors, at 652,000, while Herring Cove had 429,000 visitors. A decade earlier, Herring Cove Beach was at the top, with 815,000 visitors compared with Nauset Light at 690,000.

Although there were no naysayers at the ribbon-cutting, beachgoers may experience a few surprises at the new lot. Temporarily, no pets are allowed because of the activities of protected shorebirds, Carlstrom said. Also, as a permanent change, RVs will no longer be allowed to park at the northern lot. The waist-high slatted fencing will remain in place until the beach grass can take hold.

— Follow Mary Ann Bragg on Twitter: @maryannbraggCCT.