The Swanson River landing and campground will be closed for two days on Wednesday and Thursday for some maintenance work.
The Swanson River campground is fairly small with four spaces and no potable drinking water, trash pickup or boat launch. There is a landing available for boats there, often used by canoers on the Swanson River Canoe Trails.
Staff from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge needs to place a culvert near the campground to correct some drainage issues, which is at the end of Swanson River Road that takes off from the Sterling Highway near Sterling, according to a press release from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge issued Monday. The work comes in preparation for the delivery of some new gravel for the road, expected in June.
There is a seep in the road that needs to be corrected, said Steve Miller, deputy refuge manager for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. There was no culvert originally put into the road, and workers will install a new culvert to address the issue. The plan is to close the road Wednesday morning and reopen it Thursday afternoon, he said.
Later in the summer, Swanson River Road will be regarded and resurfaced, he said.
“We’re not going to be changing much else,” Miller said. “We’re going to be putting on a new layer of gravel and grading the road.”
That work should start in approximately the second week of June, he said. There is likely to be some slowed traffic with the delivery of gravel and work going on, he said.
Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabeth.earl@peninsulaclarion.com.
