Beloved Blue Ridge Parkway resembles 1800s logging road after Helene, NC photos show

The Blue Ridge Parkway is known as “America’s Favorite Drive” — particularly during fall — but that’s not the case in its current state.

Hurricane Helene’s winds and inches of rain turned the internationally known tourist attraction into something akin to a logging road from centuries past, photos show.

Landslides washed away travel lanes in some spots, but far more startling are stretches where decades-old trees were folded over the road like a carpet.

Piles are forming like walls along the parkway as crews work to get the trees off the pavement.

“The hurricane left tens of thousands of downed trees across the roadway and caused nearly three dozen rock and mud slides,” National Park Service officials told McClatchy News on Oct. 21.

“The slides have occurred above and below the road and have also severely damaged or swept away the roadbed in numerous places.”

In some cases, the hazards remain hidden, including “weakened” road, unstable slopes and trees poised to tumble over at any moment, officials said.

The parkway extends 469 miles through Virginia and North Carolina, and much of the N.C stretch remains closed. Twenty miles near Blowing Rock reopened Oct. 23, allowing cars to travel from mile post 285.5 to milepost 305.

Closing the roadway is a major economic blow to Western North Carolina. The parkway attracted 16,757,635 visitors in 2023, and they pumped $1.39 billion into the neighboring economy and supported 19,159 jobs, officials say.

So beloved is the site that rangers are catching people sneaking onto it, despite the dangers, officials said. As a result, rangers are issuing citations, officials warned.

“These actions are necessary to prevent accidents and injuries to the public and our crews,” officials said.

Among the popular spots that were spared “significant impacts” from the storm was the Linn Cove Viaduct, park officials said.

Here are some of the images shared by the NPS of damage and ongoing restoration work.

This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 8:23 AM with the headline "Beloved Blue Ridge Parkway resembles 1800s logging road after Helene, NC photos show."