A mile of Acadia National Park’s main scenic drive will be closed through the spring season for two ongoing construction projects.
The majority of Park Loop Road, a 27-mile drive through Acadia on the eastern side of Mount Desert Island, will open to motorists on Wednesday April 15. However, about a mile of the road between Kebo Street and Sieur de Monts will remain closed to all uses until June 12.
The entire road — including the closed section near Sieur de Monts — will be open for Memorial Day weekend, according to Amanda Pollock, spokesperson for Acadia National Park.
During the road’s closure, traffic will be redirected through downtown Bar Harbor, which gets heavy traffic on its own during tourist season.
The mile-long section of road will be closed to replace an undersized culvert as part of a restoration of the Great Meadow, the park’s largest wetland. Friends of Acadia, a local conservation group, recently was awarded $308,000 in state funding for the wetland’s restoration.
The undersized, three-foot tube will be replaced with a 12-foot concrete culvert that will help restore the wetland to a more natural water flow and prevent flooding in the meadow during heavy rain events.
During the road closure, work also will be done to connect Harden Farm, the park’s new seasonal workforce housing complex, to Bar Harbor’s wastewater system. The new units at Harden Farm, which has been under construction since 2024, will not be completed until 2027.
Cadillac Summit Road, one of the park’s busiest drives, is closed for all uses until April 30 for construction of a new trail between the east and west parking lots at the park’s highest peak.
After reopening for the summer season, the road will close again during the fall to complete construction.
