ACADIA NATIONAL PARK – Visitors to Acadia National Park will encounter some traffic detours this summer and a shorter campground season as contractors try to finish major projects by year-end, a park official said Tuesday.

The park expects intermittent closures of Acadia’s famous carriage roads so that workers can repair and restore the 16 stone bridges.

Jim Vekasi, chief of maintenance for Acadia, expects the bridge work to be done this year, but that will require the crews to work during peak tourism season.

Restoration of the bridges, projected to cost $3 million, began last fall. The job includes replacing the mortar between the stones and resealing the bridge. The work requires excavation of the carriage road above each arch and installation of a waterproofing system.

Motorists will find a detour around the affected carriage roads, Vekasi said. The park will notify the public about which carriage roads are closed by placing notices in area newspapers.

Acadia’s two popular campgrounds – Seawall and Blackwoods – will be rehabilitated this year, at a cost of about $3 million each, but contractors will stop work during the tourism season, Vekasi said.

The park, however, will open the campgrounds a few weeks later than usual and close them earlier – on Labor Day rather than Columbus Day – to allow the contractors a good chunk of time to work on the projects, Vekasi said.

Friends of Acadia, which raises private money to help preserve the park and surrounding towns, does not have any special projects planned for 2004, according to President Ken Olson.

Friends will continue its work on transportation issues, particularly a new visitor center and transportation hub in Trenton to relieve traffic congestion and pollution on Mount Desert Island.

“Bringing some reality to that is going to be our focus this year,” Olson said.