Blue Ridge Parkway

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the U.S., noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles (755 km) through the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Land on either side of the road is maintained by the National Park Service and in some stretches, by the United States Forest Service.

Begun during the administration of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, the project was originally called the "Appalachian Scenic Highway." Most construction was carried out by private contractors under federal contracts under an authorization by Harold L. Ickes in his role as federal public works administrator. Work began on September 11, 1935 near Cumberland Knob in North Carolina; construction in Virginia began the following February. On June 30, 1936, Congress formally authorized the project as the "Blue Ridge Parkway" and placed it under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Some work was carried out by various New Deal public works agencies. The Works Progress Administration did some roadway construction. Crews from the Emergency Relief Administration carried out landscape work and development of parkway recreation areas. Personnel from four Civilian Conservation Corps camps worked on roadside cleanup, roadside plantings, grading slopes and improving adjacent fields and forest lands. During World War II, the CCC crews were replaced by conscientious objectors in the Civilian Public Service program.

Construction of the parkway took over fifty-two years to complete, the last stretch (near the Linn Cove Viaduct) being laid around Grandfather Mountain in 1987. Twenty-six tunnels were constructed through the rock, one reason parts of the parkway are often closed in winter. (Due to dripping groundwater from above, freezing temperatures, and the lack of sunshine, ice often accumulates inside these areas.) The highest point on the parkway (between Asheville and Waynesville, in North Carolina) is 6053 feet or 1845m AMSL on Richland Balsam Mountain, and is often closed due to inclement weather such as snow, fog, and even freezing fog from low clouds. The parkway is carried across streams, railways ravines and cross roads by 168 bridges and six viaducts.

The parkway runs from the southern terminus of Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive in Virginia to U.S. 441 at Oconaluftee in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee, North Carolina. There is no fee for using the parkway, however commercial vehicles are prohibited, except for tour buses. The roadway is not maintained in the winter, and sections which pass over especially high elevations and through tunnels are often impassable and therefore closed from late fall through early spring. Weather is extremely variable in the mountains, so conditions and closures often change rapidly.

The parkway uses short side roads to connect to other highways, and there are no exits to the parkway at all from interstates, making it possible to enjoy wildlife and other scenery without stopping for cross-traffic. Mileposts along the parkway are numbered the reverse of most in the U.S., beginning in the northeast and running to the southwest. Also, unlike virtually all other roads in the U.S., the mileposts do not reset to zero when the road crosses a state line. Major towns along the way include Waynesboro, Roanoke, and Galax in Virginia; and in North Carolina, Boone and Asheville, where it runs across the property of the Biltmore Estate. The Blue Ridge Music Center (also part of the park) is located in Galax, and Mount Mitchell (the highest point in eastern North America) is only accessible via a state road from the parkway.

For current road and weather conditions dial 1-828-298-0398.

Ecology along the parkway

Wildflowers dominate the parkway in the spring, including rhododendrons and dogwoods, moving from valleys to mountains as the cold weather retreats. Smaller annuals and perennials such as the daisy and aster flower through the summer. Brilliant autumn foliage occurs later in September on the mountaintops, descending down to the valleys by later in October. Often in early to middle October and middle to late April, all three seasons can be seen simply by looking down from the cold and windy parkway to the green and warm valleys below. October is especially dramatic, as the colored leaves stand out boldly and occur mostly at the same time, unlike the flowers.

Major trees include oak, hickory, and tulip tree at lower elevations and buckeye and ash in the middle, turning into conifers such as fir and spruce at the highest elevations on the parkway. Trees near ridges, peaks, and passes (often called gaps or notches) are often distorted and even contorted by the wind, and persistent rime ice deposited by passing clouds in the winter.

External links

• National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway (http://www.nps.gov/blri)
• Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation (http://www.brpfoundation.org)
• Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway (http://www.blueridgefriends.org)
• Design and Construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway (http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hih/blue_ridge/)
• Maps of the Parkway made by National Park Service (http://www.nps.gov/parks.html) and hosted by Perry-Castaneda Library (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/):
  • Northern Section (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/national_parks/blue_n95.jpg) Rockfish Gap south to Doughton Park
  • Southern Section (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/national_parks/blue_s95.jpg) Cumberland Knob south to Oconaluftee Visitor Center