BRP form Asheville to Mt. Mitchell to re-open. One Lane Only for awhile.

[Normandog]

Read this in the paper yesterday. It's been closed way over one year. A retaining wall had collapsed allowing the road to slide down the mountain side. Has taken so long due to weather and having to remove most of the old fill dirt because it wasn't put in properly to begin with. They will have flagmen during weekdays and a traffic light on weekends and after hrs thru the week. Gonna have the one lane open in time for Memorial Day traffic. 
Here's a number you can call for Blue Ridge Parkway information: 1-828-298-0398 or for TDD 1-828-298-0358

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Great information    See you in the morning if you don't make Lucky 13's tonight....Bring rain gear 

[RedValk]

man...i had NOT been keeping up on this....i'm planning my Rune Rally in September.....to go over BRP from Ashville heading EAST. Guess i better keep an eye on this. Wonder if they will have BOTH lanes open by Labor Day weekend? MY GUESS...would be NOT.........

might have to change our plans? I'm going up there 20 July to find my route...pre ride.....guess i'll find out then!

[RedValk]

just went and read about it.....noted THIS:

All visitors, in particular motorcyclists and bicyclists, should travel through the area with extreme caution because of loose gravel and rough pavement conditions existing along the entire route. In addition, re-paving operations will commence on the Parkway between Asheville and Craggy Gardens and continue through the 2009 visitor season. Parkway officials caution visitors traveling though this area to pay close attention to traffic control by flagmen as slight travel delays may occur in the re-paving zones.

also noted they expect to have BOTH lanes open back up by Mid June? I hope so......

[..]

man...i had NOT been keeping up on this....i'm planning my Rune Rally in September.....to go over BRP from Ashville heading EAST. Guess i better keep an eye on this. Wonder if they will have BOTH lanes open by Labor Day weekend? MY GUESS...would be NOT.........

might have to change our plans? I'm going up there 20 July to find my route...pre ride.....guess i'll find out then!

I hope you're not planning this for Labor Day weekend? I tried toi run the BRP last year on Labor Day weekend. What a BIG mistake. From Cherokee to Asheville the BRP was covered with slow moving cars and packs of even slower bikes, mainly cruisers.  I got so frustrated I left the BRP at Asheville and went home.

There are lots of excellent roads that run north or south from the BRP that you can incoporate into loops and keep away from the BRP as much as possible. But there would still be the risk of heavy traffic especially on 276, 215, 80, 197 on a holiday weekend. All it takes is one slow moving RV on these side roads where there's very limited passing or areas for the RV to pull over and it gets  really quickly.

The traffic volume is why I keep away from the BRP for the Memorial Day ride. I reckon we'll only use about 10 miles of it each day.

[..]

Read this in the paper yesterday. It's been closed way over one year. A retaining wall had collapsed allowing the road to slide down the mountain side. Has taken so long due to weather and having to remove most of the old fill dirt because it wasn't put in properly to begin with. They will have flagmen during weekdays and a traffic light on weekends and after hrs thru the week. Gonna have the one lane open in time for Memorial Day traffic. 
Here's a number you can call for Blue Ridge Parkway information: 1-828-298-0398 or for TDD 1-828-298-0358

Oh boy I can just visualize the traffic back up one lane will cause.

Hope both are open for my ride up the BRP to meet y'all in Chambersburg. Otherwise it'll be the I 40 Hwy 80 detour.

[RedValk]

ehhh....Runes are Cruisers......we've ridden the BRP EVERY Labor Day weekend the last 5 years....never had any problems. anyway, you only have to get one ticket on the BRP....IT'S UNDER FEDERAL JURISDICTION....to know why you NEVER want to get another ticket!!!!!!   $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

We'll be fine...as long as BOTH lanes are open!

[Normandog]

just went and read about it.....noted THIS:

All visitors, in particular motorcyclists and bicyclists, should travel through the area with extreme caution because of loose gravel and rough pavement conditions existing along the entire route. In addition, re-paving operations will commence on the Parkway between Asheville and Craggy Gardens and continue through the 2009 visitor season. Parkway officials caution visitors traveling though this area to pay close attention to traffic control by flagmen as slight travel delays may occur in the re-paving zones.

also noted they expect to have BOTH lanes open back up by Mid June? I hope so......

Thanks for posting that Tim. I knew the paper had said more but I couldn't remember all of it. It's good to let folks know of these things.

[Normandog]

We got caught behind a slow SUV about 5 years ago on Labor Day. From just past Mt. Mitchell to Asheville we never got over 30 mph. Bastid had some chances to pull over and wouldnt do it. We were like 8 cars behind him so no use trying to pass.