Update on Blue Ridge Parkway closure
(For those who don't already know, 20 miles of the BRP is closed just north of Asheville due to a slope failure. The surface road detours are long.)
Looks like they'll make their projected completion date on the temporary bypass by Labor Day weekend. It appears that the bypass will be one or two hundred yards of one-lane, with two-way traffic controlled by traffic lights. I'm not sure if they'll pave it or just gravel it.
I expect the actual slope repair will be a long term project, taking a year or more. This bypass will give access from town to Mt Mitchell, and allow access to the beautiful and popular Craggy Gardens area.
Kudos to the NPS people for getting this reopened so quickly so that we the owners will be able to enjoy this national treasure!
There's some video at http://www.citizen-times.com/. (Kind of strange to see an engineer in a hardhat carrying a sidearm & cuffs, but he's a ranger as well.)
Jim, "mo' coffee!"
Looks like they'll make their projected completion date on the temporary bypass by Labor Day weekend. It appears that the bypass will be one or two hundred yards of one-lane, with two-way traffic controlled by traffic lights. I'm not sure if they'll pave it or just gravel it.
I expect the actual slope repair will be a long term project, taking a year or more. This bypass will give access from town to Mt Mitchell, and allow access to the beautiful and popular Craggy Gardens area.
Kudos to the NPS people for getting this reopened so quickly so that we the owners will be able to enjoy this national treasure!
There's some video at http://www.citizen-times.com/. (Kind of strange to see an engineer in a hardhat carrying a sidearm & cuffs, but he's a ranger as well.)
Jim, "mo' coffee!"
