Park Service warns visitors not to enter Blue Ridge Parkway

ASHEVILLE - At the height of fall color season in Western North Carolina, when the star attraction is the Blue Ridge Parkway, the scenic roadway remains closed indefinitely.

The entire North Carolina section of the parkway remains closed after Tropical Storm Helene smashed into Western North Carolina Sept. 27, bringing record rainfall and flooding that swept away lives, homes, towns and chunks of roads and highways.

According to the Oct. 15 parkway Facebook post, the National Park Service said the roadway in parts of WNC have been compromised by flooding and tree hazards. Crews continue with emergency stabilization and damage assessments following Helene.

For safety reasons, park managers are asking the public to be patient and respect the closures. Many areas remain unsafe due to visible and hidden hazards, such as weakened and missing portions of the roadway; standing dead and downed trees; unstable slopes; and crews and heavy equipment operating on the road. Unauthorized use also hinders recovery operations of work crews.

While the parkway often allows pedestrians, dog walkers and cyclists to access the roadway when it's closed for snow or other weather conditions that are dangerous to motor vehicles, the destruction is too severe to allow that now.

The parkway stretches 469 miles from Shenandoah National Park, across the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and directly through Asheville to its terminus at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It is the most visited unit of the NPS with 16.7 million visitors last year.

The park service is working diligently, and areas will reopen as soon as it is safe to do so.

"Due to increasing instances of visitors entering closed areas and disregarding or vandalizing safety barriers, rangers will begin enforcing closure violations and issuing citations as necessary. These actions are necessary to prevent accidents and injuries to the public and our crews," the post read.

Updates are posted regularly on the parkway website and social media platforms. Updates will be posted on the Blue Ridge Parkway website at www.nps.gov/blri and on the park’s social media platforms at @BlueRidgeNPS (Facebook, X and Instagram).

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Park Service warns visitors not to enter Blue Ridge Parkway