Construction is ramping up on the Summer Bay Bridge, but a plan for diverting traffic around the popular recreation site is still in progress.

City officials met with Northern Alaska Contractors on Tuesday -- just one day after work crews tried to close off Summer Bay Road at the landfill.

"Well, there was enough space around the edges of the barricades that the public just drove right around it," says public works director Tom Cohenour.

Cohenour says the city's trying to work out a better system with Northern Alaska. The company's technically responsible for managing traffic around the work site. They're allowed to shut down Summer Bay Road before the bridge -- but they can only do it for up to ten days between now and the end of the project.

Cohenour says that’s meant to give Northern Alaska time to transport materials from town.

“There’s a lot of really very narrow spots on the road, and when the trucks are hauling, there’s dust,” Cohenour says. “We just thought it would be safer if the public did not drive on the road while the contractor was hauling.”

Otherwise, Cohenour says the road should stay open all the way up to the construction site.

"Now, the bridge at this point is still in place," Cohenour says. "But there’s what are called wing walls that have been taken out by the contractor. The bridge is not safe for vehicle traffic."

And it won’t be open again until October. In the meantime, Cohenour says recreational users and fishermen should walk down the beach to access Summer Bay.

And cars can access Humpy Cove and Morris Cove using Overland Drive. The road is scheduled for maintenance this summer: The city's roads crew will grade Overland Drive and add fresh gravel to some bumpy patches.