Acadia road partly reopens
Acadia National Park largely reopened Park Loop Road to motor vehicles on April 15, but the stretch between Kebo Street and Sieur de Monts will remain closed to all uses through June 12 except for Memorial Day Weekend (unofficialnetworks.com). The park is urging visitors to plan ahead for a busy 2026 season as vehicle access returns in stages (unofficialnetworks.com).
Most of Acadia National Park’s Park Loop Road reopened to cars on Tuesday, April 15, but one key stretch will stay shut into June. (nps.gov) The closed section runs from Kebo Street to Sieur de Monts and is blocked to everyone — drivers, cyclists, and walkers — through June 12, except during Memorial Day Weekend. The park is sending traffic onto Mount Desert Street, Main Street, and Route 3 before vehicles can rejoin the loop at Sieur de Monts. (nps.gov) Park officials said the closure is tied to two projects: replacing an undersized culvert near Great Meadow and connecting new park housing to the town wastewater system. The National Park Service posted the detour as an active park alert on April 13. (nps.gov, nps.gov) The phased reopening comes as Acadia prepares for another heavy season in one of the country’s busiest national parks. The park’s vehicle-reservation page says Acadia gets more than 4 million visits a year and has seen visitation rise nearly 60 percent over the past decade. (nps.gov) That crowding shapes how visitors move through the park in spring and summer. The National Park Service said visitors should check conditions before leaving home, use Island Explorer buses or the fare-free shuttle network when possible, and expect parking lots to fill early. (nps.gov) Another access point is still offline: Cadillac Summit Road is closed to all uses through April 30 while crews build the Cadillac East-West Connector Trail, a paved path linking the summit’s two parking lots and visitor areas. A separate reservation system for driving Cadillac Summit Road begins May 20 and runs through October 25, 2026. (nps.gov, recreation.gov) Sieur de Monts is one of Acadia’s main gateways, with the Nature Center, Wild Gardens of Acadia, Great Meadow access, and several memorial paths clustered near the start of the loop road. Keeping that segment closed cuts off one of the park’s first major stopping points even as the rest of the scenic drive returns to vehicle traffic. (nps.gov, nps.gov) For the next eight weeks, Acadia’s message is simple: the loop is back, but not all at once. Visitors who treat April 15 as a full reopening will still hit barricades before Sieur de Monts. (nps.gov, nps.gov)
