construction | Smoky Mountain Motorcycle Rider

With the new paving done, I’ve been using the Blue Ridge Parkway more often for my motorcycle touring rides north. It’s actually about as quick as taking any other route if you’re heading for areas between Asheville and Boone, NC, and even if it takes a tad longer, it’s usually so much nicer to go that way. Today though, I hit it at the wrong time.

Photo - line of cars on the Blue Ridge Parkway

This line of cars much have stretched for a mile waiting on the tree clearing crews to let us pass.

I needed to make a run up to Craggy Gardens for a photo. If you’ve been to Craggy Gardens on your motorcycle vacation you know why it makes a good photo spot, if not, I can be confident you’ll stop there if you pass that way and take your own. It’s the first Visitor Center location north of Asheville, though it’s the views people come for, not the facilities.

I had expected the traffic from the work crews would be tapering off. I was proven wrong today and I’ll need to explore a bit further to find out why. I just plain didn’t have the time this morning. As soon as I got on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville I found myself behind a dump truck. I was shortly joined by a string of motorcycle riders as we putted along behind said truck for creeping uphill mile after mile. Just as the truck managed to pick up speed it caught up to another.

The Craggy Gardens Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway

I don’t know where the trucks were headed, the last work I saw was near Mt. Mitchell State Park. If they are working on the stretch of road north of there, more power to them and I have no complaints. It needs some attention, though not as severely as that south of Craggy Gardens. The hold up today was the tree clearing crews. I waited for 1/2 and hour to pass. Must be the same slow crews which worked through Asheville last week.

I was looking for and got a nice photo at the Craggy Pinnacle Tunnel for a new "The Best Rides North and South of Asheville, NC" map cover.

Anyway, be aware there are still delays through this section and take it in stride on your motorcycle vacation plans. Spend a little more time at the overlooks, appreciate the improvements to the road, and remember there are few places better to have to pause and wait. I’ll be at the north end of the Parkway in Virginia next week to update what’s going on there.

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Wayne Busch - Cartographer

– Wayne Busch lives in Waynesville, NC, where he produces the most detailed and comprehensive and up-to-date motorcycle pocket maps of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains to help you get the most of your vacation experience. See them here – AmericaRidesMaps.com

Photo - stopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway

A short delay between Mt. Mitchell and Craggy Gardens near the roadwork.

I took a motorcycle ride through the North Carolina section of the Blue Ridge Parkway to confirm my suspicions this morning. Even with the heavy fog up high it was clear that the bulk of the Blue Ridge Parkway paving work in North Carolina has been completed. While work continues, the major roadwork between Asheville and Mt. Mitchell is done and you may expect smooth new pavement on your next motorcycle ride.

Photo - section of new Blue Ridge Parkway guardrail

The new wooden guardrails are much heavier and a little higher than the ones they replace

The focus has now shifted to the margins of the road as the drainage is being cleaned and groomed, trees are being trimmed, and most significantly, new wooded guardrails are being installed. You will hit short delays when you come upon this work. North of Mt. Mitchell State Park you’ll still hit some bumpy areas of road. The worst of the pot holes are being filled and patched.

Photo - tree trimming on the Blue Ridge Parkway

The most extensive tree work is on the Virginia side of the border where much of the winter damage is yet to be removed.

Further north on the sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway near the North Carolina and Virginia border, you’ll still run into sections being paved, though nothing as extensive as what was done to the south. On the Virginia side of the border, the paving is in short sections and along the edges of the road. I’m hoping this is just laying down a base for a fresh coat of pavement over the top as some of the patched areas dip lower than the untouched sections of road and you’ll notice the drop. I’m impressed with the stone work being done to construct the drains.

Photo - Clouds hug the tops of the black Mountains this morning

Take time to pause and look at the Black Mountains, some of the most rugged and beautiful peaks in the south. Clouds hugged the tops this morning.

Overall, delays are brief, you’ll hit more in Virginia right now, but the work that has been done was needed and welcome. No major changes at the rock slide area south of Asheville – one lane remains open controlled by a traffic signal.

Wayne from America Rides Maps

Smoky Mountain Motorcycle Rider

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Tag Archives: construction

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