Provincetown Planning Board approval clears way for construction of lift to monument.

PROVINCETOWN — The Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum's funicular project is poised to get off the ground after receiving final regulatory approval last week.

"We are on our way toward our goal to finally connect the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum — both physically and philosophically — to the town, its residents and the thousands of visitors that come here each year,” Courtney Hurst, president of the nonprofit organization's board of trustees, said.

The Planning Board approved the project Thursday, clearing the way for work to start on the final design and construction of the inclined elevator that will carry people from Bradford Street up High Pole Hill to the monument.

The board placed a condition on the project that a traffic study be done in 2019 but thought the impact to the area could be lessened by having a traffic detail during peak periods, Town Planner Jeffrey Ribeiro said.

Monument officials accept and understand the need to look at traffic issues, said K. David Weidner, the organization's executive director.

The Planning Board’s approval was the last regulatory hurdle the funicular project had to clear. The monument and museum already had secured the blessing of the Historic District Commission and the Conservation Commission.

The nonprofit organization will sit down with engineers and architects next month to turn their conceptual designs into construction and bidding documents, Weidner said. It also will have to pursue building permits for the project and get a secondary sign-off from the Conservation Commission after the Historic District Commission asked for the project to be slightly scaled down.

“We’re hoping it will be ready for 2020,” Weidner said, allowing the project's unveiling to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing in Provincetown. There is no concrete groundbreaking date.

The organization has said the project will help attract more people to the monument, which, at 252 feet, is the tallest all-granite structure in the country. One of the biggest obstacles for people currently is finding their way to the monument and then hiking up High Pole Hill. This project would create a new front door to the monument, Weidner said.

The funicular will be on private land but will be accessible from Bas Relief Park on Bradford Street in the center of town, and its construction will reflect the town's history, according to Weidner. When the monument was completed in 1910, rail cars were used to haul blocks of granite up the hill, so the new inclined elevator would bring things back full circle, he said.

The entrance will mesh with Bas Relief Park and organization officials have said the funicular is quiet and will not distract from that memorial to the Pilgrims.

"We're official at this point," Weidner said, "and ready for the next steps.”

— Follow Ethan Genter on Twitter: @EthanGenterCCT.