The National Park Service awarded an approximately $33 million contract for demolition of outdated structures and construction of new maintenance facilities at Acadia National Park headquarters. Funded by the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), the project will provide park staff with enhanced facilities to better serve visitors and protect park resources.

The current maintenance buildings were constructed in the 1960s and have been deemed structurally unsound, undersized, and inadequate for the workload. The park’s staff, operations, and visitation have grown considerably. In just the last 10 years, park visitation has grown by approximately 70%. In 2021, Acadia National Park had 4.1 million visitors who spent an estimated $486 million.

It is impossible to overstate the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to operate a national park,

said Acadia National Park Superintendent Kevin Schneider.

Acadia’s maintenance team works tirelessly to preserve roads and trails; conserve historic carriage roads and stone bridges; keep visitor centers clean and operational; manage construction projects; the list goes on and on. Our dedicated staff, which has persevered for many years working out of an old building that no longer meets their needs, is thrilled to see this project progress.

Many park partnership programs also operate out of the maintenance buildings, including volunteer programs funded in part by the Friends of Acadia which help maintain trails and historic carriage roads. The current facility cannot accommodate the approximately 150 employees and staff based at the site and must use portable restrooms and temporary trailers to compensate.

The project will fund construction of a new maintenance operations complex and demolish more than 20,000 square feet of unsafe park structures. The new maintenance shops and equipment support spaces, restrooms, offices, workspaces, and community areas will improve workplace efficiencies, lower heating and cooling costs, decrease fuel consumption, protect equipment investments from the elements, and improve accessibility.

Local Bangor contractor Nickerson & O'Day, Inc. is expected to start work this spring, with project completion expected in Fall 2024.

RANKED: Here are the most popular national parks

To determine the most popular national parks in the United States, Stacker compiled data from the National Park Service on the number of recreational visits each site had in 2020. Keep reading to discover the 50 most popular national parks in the United States, in reverse order from #50 to #1. And be sure to check with individuals parks before you visit to find out about ongoing, pandemic-related safety precautions at www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

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