A Bit Late--but Worth It

Construction of the 470-mile-long Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina, begun on Sept. 11, 1935, was expected to take two years. This past weekend, more than half a century later, the parkway finally was completed with the dedication of the final 7 1/2-mile section over Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. The Grandfather Mountain section, located more than a mile above sea level, is particularly spectacular. To minimize intrusion on the environment, the road includes a sweeping 1,243-foot-long viaduct consisting of 153 sections--only one of which is straight.

The parkway idea was conceived in August, 1933, by the late Sen. Harry F. Byrd of Virginia during a visit with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes to a Civilian Conservation Corps camp in the new Shenandoah National Park. Byrd claimed it was there that he suggested extension of Skyline Drive down the backbone of the Appalachian range to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the western tip of North Carolina. Creating jobs during the Depression, of course, was a major impetus for the project. But a key early figure in the planning, Cornell architect Stanley Abbott, said, “The only reason for the Blue Ridge Parkway is to please the viewer.”

Today, finally, it is done. And please the viewer it certainly does, providing many Americans with the closest experience that they ever will have with natural wild lands. The Blue Ridge may be complete, but the concept remains fresh and exciting. Surely there are other routes in the nation that would benefit from the same combination of aesthetic planning, environmental preservation and enhancement, and scenic vision.