Somehow I must have set the GPS to “find the most traffic” and it was working fabulously. I suppose everyone else had done the same as I hit one logjam after another on my way home from Virginia earlier this week. Still, as I left Banner Elk, I though it might be a while before I passed this way again and I was curious to see how the construction on the Blue Ridge Parkway was progressing.

I’d already bypassed the detour near Boone and Blowing Rock. No need to visit that section anyway. They are replacing a section of roadbed and there’s no way to get a close look at what’s going on, nor did I want to take the time to ride up and see how the bridge work was coming to the north. The big project however was more or less on my route home – at least it was now. Anything to get off the clogged roads and unwind.

The section I was interested in lies between Mt. Mitchell State Park and Asheville. This section of the parkway was closed all of last year when a piece slid off the mountainside. That portion has been rebuilt and the project has now shifted to repairing the adjacent areas of road which had deteriorated badly. Layers of pavement had peeled away like old paint and there were some areas where small sinkholes had left huge dips in the roadway. Honestly, it was getting pretty rough and it’s nice to see it receiving the attention it needs.

I was initially under the impression the job was mostly just resurfacing. This visit revealed there are many areas where the entire roadbed is being rebuilt. It’s being done in a piecemeal fashion, probably the worst sections getting attention first. Cruising down the southbound lane, the worst of the two, I was pleased to hit gloriously smooth portions that had already been repaired. These would be followed by others which had yet to see attention and still more which would probably not require much of anything. Sporadically, I came to construction areas, most of which were flanked by idled equipment this late into the evening. A few of the overlooks had been resurfaced along the drive.

It was pretty easy going until I passed Craggy Gardens. The last of the crews was still going full steam on a good sized section of road and I found myself pulling up to a line of stopped traffic waiting for the pilot vehicle to take them through the single open lane. It was just a few minutes until it came by with a long line of cars in tow. I waited my turn then fell into the queue behind our chaperon. As we passed, the opposite lane was being filled with fresh subsoil as the road was rebuilt from the very base. Work this extensive should endure. I doubt this will be anywhere close to finished until next spring season.

I left the Parkway near Asheville only to get caught up in another traffic jam on the south side of the city. Didn’t matter much anymore. I’d been on the bike since 4 AM and I could see the familiar mountains of home on the horizon. I’d get there soon enough.