From a rowboat to the barges that have had more than one iteration through the years, the Chappaquiddick ferry is an Island institution all its own.

Edgartown selectmen responded to a threatened legal claim for damages from residents of Simpson’s Lane, who charge the town has created a nuisance and has taken their property rights by allowing the street to be used for the Chappaquiddick ferry waiting line.

More traffic officers, more signs, more street painting and additional monitoring cameras are all short-term fixes suggested by the Edgartown planning board for traffic issues created by the long line of vehicles waiting to board the ferry.

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.