The maintenance yard is being enclosed, blocking thru-traffic near the east entrance.

Fred Whittlesey measured it.

From the east entrance of Battle Point Park to the park’s west entrance, it’s 1.3 miles. And that’s how much longer park users will have to travel in some cases, once the park district this fall blocks access to a widely used interior road in the park.

It’s not just the plug that bothers Whittlesey. It’s the principle.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Whittlesey said. “But when you start limiting access to park property because of liability issues, where do you draw the line?”

In this case, the line is a brown chain-link fence, drawn around the perimeter of the park’s maintenance building at a cost of $9,000.

Along with blocking access to the maintenance facility, the fence will close a half-mile long section of an interior access road near the park’s east entrance off Arrow Point Drive.

It is being built as a safety measure to protect the increasing number of park-goers from vehicles speeding down the road, according to an email from park board member Ken DeWitt.

“It has never been, is not, nor will it ever be intended to be a county road or city street,” DeWitt said. “Already this summer there have been several near-misses.

“Because of these hazards alone, closure of through access is prudent not only from a risk management standpoint, but from a fiscal standpoint as well.”

DeWitt also said the road also will be closed because the level of traffic using it now far exceeds the road’s capacity, and it is beginning to deteriorate.

Replacing the current layered tar and gravel road with traditional asphalt would cost at least $120,000, DeWitt said, while closing the road and repairing it would cost considerably less.

The park district in recent years has looked at moving the aging maintenance facility, either to another property or elsewhere at Battle Point Park. Saving money on the access road is one way to extend the life of the current facility, DeWitt said.

Talk of closing the road began in 1991, with the creation of a park master plan by a citizen committee. Back then, concerns included safety and misuse of the road as an access between Battle Point and Arrow Point drives.

Because traffic and the number of park users have increased significantly, DeWitt said, the need for the closure is even greater today.

The decision to close it was reached following several public meetings, he said.

“While drivers accessing Battle Point Park from Arrow Point Drive may have to spend a couple of minutes longer in their cars,” he said, “reduction in cost of maintaining the road and budgeting for its repair/replacement, and the need for more space for the maintenance yard make closure of (the road) the correct decision.”

Park users entering from Arrow Point Drive now use the road to access the observatory, athletic fields, pea patches and picnic shelter.

Drivers on Thursday slowed as they approached a sign near the fence warning of the impending closure. A reporter observed some drivers cutting through the park without stopping.

Whittlesey said he and his three children use park facilities regularly – he counted more than 40 classes and events between them over the course of this summer – but he is discouraged by what he sees as a trend of facilities closures.

“They’re basically building a fortress between them and the community,” he said.

“Even if they were going to close the road, why did they have to build a fence around the entire maintenance area? Why couldn’t they just build it across the road?”