Repair will begin soon to address significant settlement, cracking, and rock fall on portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Deep Gap and Linville Falls, both in North Carolina.
These issues present potential hazards to park visitors and were identified during recent assessments by National Park Service and Federal Highway Administration geotechnical engineers.
Contractors will be on-site beginning the week of April 11, and work is expected to be complete by September. While work is underway in these areas to install rock and soil anchors, slope netting at cut slopes, reconstruct fill slope, and address needed paving repairs, visitors can expect:
- A full parkway closure from milepost 276.4 at US Route 421 to milepost 280.9 at Old US 421 (near Deep Gap), with detour information on variable message boards around the project, and
- Delays around milepost 323 (south of Linville Falls) due to a single lane closure managed with a temporary traffic light.
It is not uncommon for roads built in mountainous terrain to subside over time. Managing and maintaining the historic motor road and associated infrastructure along the Blue Ridge Parkway is a complex undertaking and requires a multifaceted approach. The Parkway, as one of the most visited units in the NPS, manages 526 miles of paved road, 32 miles of unpaved road, 26 tunnels, 180 bridges, culverts, and a network of road related infrastructure, including the historic, 469-mile mainline motor route.
To learn more about the history and construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway, visit nps.gov/blri.
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