Bear Lake getting a new marina to handle growing popularity, lower water levels


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GARDEN CITY, Utah – Bear Lake is silent right now, but as the weather heats up this spring and summer, many beaches and the marina will be packed.

"Bear Lake has been getting busier and busier," said Richard Droesbeke, Bear Lake State Park manager. "More people have found the Caribbean of the Rockies."

Droesbeke said lines to get into the marina already fill up entrance lanes that DOT recently built.

"Even with those new lanes, traffic was backing up to the highway," he said.

In addition, he said there's a slowdown for getting boats onto the lake too. "Our current launch ramp is only seven lanes and that's our bottleneck right now too, is we can't launch or retrieve boats fast enough to get them on or to get them off the water."

The state legislature recently approved $60 million to build a new marina at Bear Lake. Park managers said it will look like it has a copy of the old one placed right below it.

Another marina with about 300 more boat slips will help them handle a lot more. There will be about 12 more launch ramp lanes.

A drawing depicting the new marina.
A drawing depicting the new marina. (Photo: Jub Engineers via KSL-TV)

"That will help with the flow and keeping our lines down if there's more lanes, then it will be less backup," Droesbeke said.

It will also make it easier to get boats back in quickly when severe weather arrives.

Droesbeke said, "It creates a safe haven for the lake."

He said the new marina will also be about five feet deeper, making it possible to keep running even in the lowest water years.

And while it may be tough to keep up with the increased interest in Bear Lake. Droesbeke said they still need permits from the Army Corps of Engineers but ideally, construction could begin as early as this fall, but more likely in the fall of 2023.

"We've continued to see a constant growth with visitors to the park and to the marina," he said.

The new ramp should open in 2025.

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Mike Anderson, KSL-TVMike Anderson
Mike Anderson often doubles as his own photographer, shooting and editing most of his stories. He came to KSL in April 2011 after working for several years at various broadcast news outlets.

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