BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY – history –
Construction of Blue Ridge Parkway’ s 469 miles began in 1935 and wasn’ t officially completed until 1987. In the middle of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration were trying to find ways to create jobs and spur the economy. Job creation was one of the main reasons the Parkway was built.
The Civilian Conservation Corps, a public relief program, did much of the initial construction work. From the beginning, construction was undertaken to have the Parkway blend into the natural landscape and limit the impact. Parkway construction stopped during World War II but resumed in the 1950s and 1960s.
By the late 1960s, a 7-mile section around Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina was the final part still to be completed and, eventually, required the construction of the 1,200-foot Linn Cove Viaduct.
The Parkway was officially dedicated on Sept. 11, 1987, and today includes 26 tunnels, dozens of bridges, overlooks and developed areas. The Parkway’ s highest point is at 6,000 feet at the Richland Balsam overlook in North Carolina, while it descends to roughly 600 feet at the James River in Virginia. More than 600 million visitors have traveled along the Parkway since it was constructed.
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