With so much to see and do in the Smoky Mountains, it is hard to imagine a day when you might just have nowhere to go. But should that ever happen to you, there is always the "Road to Nowhere", a scenic mountain highway outside of Bryson City, NC that takes you eight winding beautiful miles into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and ends abruptly at the mouth of a ½ mile long tunnel. On the map, it is simple called Lakeview Drive, but to the citizens of Swain County it is know as The Road to Nowhere - A Broken Promise.
The road received its name from a dispute during the 1930s and ‘40s when Swain County gave up the majority of its private land to the federal government for the creation of Fontana Lake and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hundreds of people were forced to leave the small communities that had been their homes for generations. The government flooded that land by building Fontana Dam. The hydroelectric power provided by the dam proved vital in helping the government build the atomic bomb in nearby Oak Ridge, Tenn. By the way, Fontana Dam is the highest dam east of the Rocky Mountains, at 480 feet.
The road that led to the area was flooded beneath the waters of the lake, cutting off access to a number of family cemeteries. The federal government made an agreement with Swain County to replace the road with a new one along the lake’s north shore, to be called the North Shore Road -- another catchy name.
Construction of the road began in the 1960s but was halted because of an environmental issue, leaving the road though the tunnel completed, but nothing else. The environmental problems included rotten, unstable rock that would have required much larger cuts through the hills than expected. It was deemed to be too expensive and damaging to the appearance of the parklands, so the road was not completed. The rock is also acidic, and construction may have upset the aquatic life in local streams. The area's that were flooded in the construction of the dam blocked many of the people in Bryson City from accessing some of the cemeteries. The government now runs a ferry service from the south side of Fontana Lake most of the year, so people can visit those isolated cemeteries.
Lakeview Drive is a nice twisty eight-mile-long section of road. Along the way, there is a beautiful overlook onto an arm of Fontana Lake.
Beautiful, isn't it?
The road surface is patched, uneven, and giant pot-hold in many places. There isn't much traffic since this is a dead end road. Just outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park, there is a sign that reminds drivers of the broken promise of the 1940s.
The road ends at a post barrier with the tunnel in sight beyond. The road and tunnel were completed by the end of 1969, but the remaining 26 miles of road were never finished.
During our walk to the tunnel the air was filled with the smell of horse manure and dog poop. This did cause bugs to be pretty thick in the area.
I walk from the parking area to the tunnel is about a tenth of a mile. Here is a closer look at the tunnel entrance. A nearby sign says there are several trails that start beyond the tunnel.
The tunnel construction is similar to those on the Blue Ridge Parkway, having a stone facing and concrete lining.
Dan ventured a few yards into the graffiti-covered portal. The pavement inside is rough, but level surface. It is filled with wet dirt. The smell was overwhelming and just plain gross. I refused to even step foot in the gross poop filled tunnel in my flip flops. Honestly, no matter what shoes I had had on I would have refused to walking inside the stinky tube.
What is the status of the Road to Nowhere, now? The federal government made a cash settlement in February of 2010 in lieu of completing the road. The settlement, paid to Swain County, was for $52,000,000. Completion of the road would have cost at least $600,000,000.
This road has been a controversial and emotional journey for the locals. It is sad to see so much graffiti on the walls and wetness inside the tunnel. With no maintenance, I wonder what this tunnel with be like in the future. I guess time will tell!
The fact that we never walked to the other side of the tunnel is fine with us as we like the intriguing idea that the mystique surrounding the road to nowhere still is unanswered for us. And no, we were not abducted by aliens or haunted by ghosts either on this outing despite local lore. At least we don't think so.....Hmmmmm...
No comments:
Post a Comment