The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1935-07-04
SHENANDOAH GREAT SMOKY
MOUNTAINS PARK HIGHWAY
(By Stanley w. Abbott)

ing planned by the National Govern
ment along the Blue Ridge, mountains
is visualized by many as the most i'm
portant public improvement since rail-
road days in the growth of western
North Carolina. Five hundred miles
in length and traversing Virginia as
well as this State, the Parkway is
one of the longest to be planned as
a single unit in American roadbuild-
ing history. 1t will also be the high
est road in the East, averaging $500
feet and climbing in several sections
higher than one mile above sea level.
The federal program under P. w. A.
is estimated to cost in the twenty
millions and will include the develop
ment of wayside recreation in addi-
ton to a parkway drive connecting
the Shenandoah and the Great Smoky
Mountains National Parks. These
superbly wild areas have been set
aside for conservation and are now
being developed with appropriate
road systems and recreation features.
Although they are relatively young
members of the National family,
these parks already attract thousands
of tourists each year from all states
Of the country. 1t is proposed not
only to make them more accessible
by the new road, but to create the
parkway in such a manner as to be
in itself an alluring invitation to the
vacationer.
1t should be unnecessary to point
out the recreationa' value of the APP
palachians to it's close neighbors. The
Carolina-Virginia mountains in their
variety and in their forest-clad
friendliness call forth high praise
from the most casual observer. To
assure for all time and all people this
great recreation resource, the most
important aspect of the National
project is that it will provide a
parkway" as contra-distinguished
from the ordinary commercial high
way with which the American tour
list is all too familiar).
The parkway idea is a relatively
new and highly specialized solution
for the traffic problem. It may be
defined briefly as a road devoted to
recreation and located within an
elongated park. Pathways have
been developed in suburban regions
near New York City and in the case
of the Mt. Vernon Memorial Drive
near Washington. The worthwhile
ness of this type of drive in the sub
urban plan has been amply demon
strated not only as a benefit to pub
lie recreation, but as the most effici-
ent solution yet devised for safe and
rapid movement of passenger cars.
These parkways, however, can hardly
be pointed to as true prototypes for
the park-to-park program. This pro-
ject is a pioneer type by which the
national government seeks to meet on
a broad scale of interstate planning
the ever-increasing demands Of the
vacation tourist. Probably no scenic
parkway in the world approaches the
magnitude of this conception.
Technicians recognize three ele-
ments of great Importance distin-
gushing the parkway from the COM
mon road: first, a sufficient width of
park land to provide protective
"buffer" on both sides of the paved
motorway, excluding private frontage
and giving opportunity for extensive
roadside Identification; second, the
elimination of principal road cross
ings by means of bridges over or UNI
der the parkway; and, finally, the
spacing of access roadways at infre-
auent intervals to minimize the fric-
ton with the main traffic stream. OF
these principles, that of the broad in
sulating park strip is considered Of
greatest importance in the case OF
SHENANDOAH Great Smoky Mountains
Parkway, predicated as it is on scenic
values. The control will eliminate the
parasitic and unsightly border devel-
opment of the hot-dog stand, the
gasoline shack and the billboard. 1t
will make possible the preservation
of unspoiled natural surroundings
The parkway, including its struc-
lures, will he characterized by sim
plicity and infornality, being design
ed to harmonic with this natural
environment.
The roadway location is being
carefully studied to take best advan-