One dead, one critical in a K-Beach Road rollover near Soldotna

A 62-year-old man from Iowa was killed and a second person left in critical condition after their van rolled off Kalifornsky Beach Road near Soldotna on Monday — on a road that thousands of Kenai Peninsula drivers and summer visitors travel every day.

Alaska State Troopers said they were called around noon on June 29 to the area near Mile 3 of the road, known locally as K-Beach, where a Chevrolet van heading south left the roadway and rolled. Gregory Kruser was flown to an Anchorage-area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The second person in the van, whom troopers have not named, was also medevacked to Anchorage and remained in critical condition. Next of kin have been notified.

Troopers have not said what caused the van to leave the road, and the investigation is continuing.

K-Beach is one of the peninsula's busiest routes — the main artery between Kenai and Soldotna, and the way thousands of anglers reach the mouths of the Kenai and Kasilof rivers each summer. At the height of fishing season it carries more than 15,000 vehicles a day, according to figures from a recent state resurfacing project. Monday was a hard reminder of how suddenly an ordinary summer drive can end.