National Park Service maintenance personnel are conducting boom axe operations in multiple locations along the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway. Visitors should anticipate intermittent and temporary closures in active work zones. Both lanes of the Parkway will be closed to all activity (cars, bicycles, and hikers) in active work zones to ensure the safety of the maintenance workers as well as Parkway visitors.
Closure areas are as follows:
|
Mileposts (from North to South) |
Dates |
|
MP 66 – 85 |
December 11 – 15, 2017 |
|
MP 95 – 106 |
December 4 – 8, 2017 |
|
MP 106 – 112 |
January 2 – 12, 2018 |
|
MP 112 – 120 |
December 4 – 22, 2017 |
|
MP 234 – 242 |
January 8 – 19, 2018 |
|
MP 298 – 305 |
January 8 – 19, 2018 |
|
MP 317 – 324 |
January 2 – 26, 2018 |
|
MP 355 – 367.6 |
January 2 – 26, 2018 |
|
MP 455 – 469 |
November 27 – December 15, 2017 |
Affected sections close at approximately 8 a.m. each weekday and re-open daily by 4:30 p.m. EST in each affected area. The road will be open on the weekend. Those who normally commute on the Parkway on Monday through Friday may want to find alternate routes.
Annually, Blue Ridge Parkway maintenance and resource management staff conduct maintenance activities that help control vegetation growth along the Parkway. To help insure safe sight distances and a clear right-of-way, this work requires using a large tractor with a cutting head on a long arm, or boom. This tractor must remain in the travel lanes during operation to properly perform its work while cutting the banks and road shoulders.
Specific information regarding daily closures, related to this project or for any other reason, is available on the Parkway’s Real Time Road Map, found at www.nps.gov/maps/blri/road-clo