Bunches Bald Tunnel of the Blue Ridge Parkway (Jackson County, North Carolina)
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is the longest linear park in the U.S., runs for 469 miles through 29 counties in Virginia and North Carolina, linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern terminus is at U.S. Route 441 on the boundary between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, from which it travels northeast to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The roadway continues through Shenandoah as Skyline Drive, a similar scenic road which is managed by a different National Park Service unit. Both Skyline Drive and the Virginia portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway are part of Virginia State Route 48, though this designation is not signed.
The parkway has been one of the most visited units of the National Park System since 1946. Land on either side of the road is owned and maintained by the National Park Service, and in many places parkway land is bordered by United States Forest Service property. There is no fee for using the parkway. The roadway is not maintained in the winter, and sections that 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 speed limit is never higher than 45 miles per hour and is lower in some sections.
The Blue Ridge Parkway was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2024.
Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ridge_Parkway
Bunches Bald Tunnel of the Blue Ridge Parkway (Jackson County, North Carolina)
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is the longest linear park in the U.S., runs for 469 miles through 29 counties in Virginia and North Carolina, linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern terminus is at U.S. Route 441 on the boundary between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, from which it travels northeast to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The roadway continues through Shenandoah as Skyline Drive, a similar scenic road which is managed by a different National Park Service unit. Both Skyline Drive and the Virginia portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway are part of Virginia State Route 48, though this designation is not signed.
The parkway has been one of the most visited units of the National Park System since 1946. Land on either side of the road is owned and maintained by the National Park Service, and in many places parkway land is bordered by United States Forest Service property. There is no fee for using the parkway. The roadway is not maintained in the winter, and sections that 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 speed limit is never higher than 45 miles per hour and is lower in some sections.
The Blue Ridge Parkway was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2024.
Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ridge_Parkway