Road to Recovery on the Blue Ridge Parkway After Helene

Since Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc across southern Appalachia in late September of 2024, the National Park Service (NPS) has cleared mountains of debris, conducted hundreds of facility and resource assessments, and reopened over 310 miles of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina. In both states, widespread treefall, erosion, trail, and culvert damage occurred and many structures, both historic and non-historic, were heavily damaged. Critical drainage features that support public infrastructure were also compromised and many significant cultural and natural landscapes were impacted. The work to restore the Parkway is complex and some areas will take years to repair and fully reopen.

 

Scope of Damage
Some of the most significant damage to the Parkway’s primary roadway occurred in North Carolina. The NPS has identified landslides across approximately 200 miles of Parkway in North Carolina, stretching from the Virginia-North Carolina boundary to beyond Mount Pisgah, south of Asheville. The landslides range in scale and scope, as some slides occurred above the parkway, some below, some taking out portions of the road, and some less obvious, but compromising the integrity of the road or drainage systems.

 

The highest concentration of overall damage occurred from the Linville Falls area near milepost 317 south to Mount Mitchell State Park near milepost 349. Along with the destruction of park facilities near Linville Falls, including the visitor center, picnic area comfort station, and portions of the campground, park teams have documented over four dozen landslides and other storm-related natural and cultural resource damage in those 38 miles of Parkway alone.

 

While the road is open in all 217 miles of the Parkway in Virginia, additional repair and clean up work remains. In the coming months recovery work in Virginia will focus on roadway and drainage repairs, hazard tree work, woody debris removal, culvert cleaning, removing siltation from mill ponds, repairing damage to historic and non-historic structures, trail clearing, and cultural landscape and natural resource restoration.

 

 

Funding for storm recovery will be available from multiple sources, including a portion of the more than $2 billion in supplemental disaster funding Congress recently allocated to the NPS. The park has already benefited in $25 million in funding from the U.S. Department of T

 

Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)  emergency relief funds. The NPS is working closely with FHWA to perform emergency stabilization and repair work at several slide locations near critical transportation networks, and to complete debris removal and roadway guardrail repairs. Contracts have been awarded for a portion of this work, with an initial round of emergency repairs expected to begin in the coming weeks and continue across the summer.

 

 

Due to the severity of the storm, conditions on park roads and trails are evolving. Visitors should plan carefully for any trip along the Parkway, consult the park’s online road status and share travel plans with others in advance.

 

Given the storm’s widespread, and sometimes hidden impact to many sections of the road, winter weather-related closures also include all recreational use. For safety reasons, the park asks that people respect all closures. With snow, rain and wind, additional treefall and slides are possible across the area.