The University of NC-Asheville and Warren Wilson College carried out a 5-year project to evaluate the economic value of the Parkway's views in Virginia and North Carolina which was completed in 2004. The objectives of the research were three-fold:
- to define what visual experiendes visitors prefer and their willingness to trade-off one experience for another
- to determine visitors' willingness to pay to preserve their visual experience
- to report visitor behavior if views are not protected and how that impacts revenues in communities adjacent to the Parkway.
The project was funded by private donors to the Foundation, the Golden LEAF Foundation, the R. J. Reynolds, III Foundation and the John W. and Anna H. Hanes Foundation.