San Juan County Parks and Recreation director Dona Wuthnow announced that Odlin Park on Lopez Island will be closed to campers on Tuesday June 2 and to all users from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3.

The closure will permit trucks to unload a barge load of gravel needed for the Fisherman Bay Road reconstruction project.

“Public Works says there will be 375 truckloads of gravel – that’s 750 trips to and from the barge landing passing through Odlin Park on that day, and we felt it would be unsafe for people to be in the park while this is going on,” Wuthnow said.

1.7 miles of Fisherman Bay Road is being upgraded and resurfaced in a $2.5 million project scheduled for completion in September. With work underway, the Public Works Department requested, and the Park and Recreation Commission granted a variance to make an unscheduled use of the barge landing adjacent to Odlin Park when it became apparent that additional materials would be needed to rebuild portions of the roadway.

Public Works Engineer Dan Vekved said, “We expected to have to replace 1000 to 1500 tons of unsuitable material under the roadway, but now it appears we’ll need to use about 6,000 tons of new gravel.”

Parks director Wuthnow said her department has been able to work with all of the people who had facilities or campsites reserved for the two days.