National Park Service recommends a financial settlement

On October 2, 2007, the National Park Service and the Federal Highway
Administration released its final environmental impact statement, recommending a financial settlement to Swain County in lieu of building the road, sometimes called the “Road to Nowhere.” However, Congress still has to appropriate the money, just like any other bill. If you want to read the huge document, go to http://www.northshoreroad.info:80/

A step closer to a financial settlement

The U.S. Senate has included $6 million in its version of the federal
budget as a cash settlement for Swain County. The allocation is not in
the House version of the bill, but U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, a champion of
the cash settlement, said he expects it will be in the final version of
the budget after the House and Senate go to conference committee on the
budget. Shuler was instrumental in forming a bi-partisan coalition
across the Senate and House to advance the cause of a cash settlement
for Swain County. From Smoky Mountain News.

National Park Service to recommend cash settlement in lieu of “Road to Nowhere”
by Danny Bernstein From the Mountain Xpress on 05/30/2007

Good things come to those who wait—but sometimes they have to wait almost 60 years. Last week, Dale Ditmanson, superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, announced that the National Park Service will recommend paying a cash settlement to Swain County instead of building the so-called Road to Nowhere in the southwestern corner of the park. The proposed road from Bryson City to Fontana Dam was meant to replace one flooded in 1943 by the Tennessee Valley Authority to create electricity for the war effort.

“I feel real glad that NPS finally decided on the preferred alternative,” said Claude Douthit, a retired TVA employee who lives in Bryson City. “I retired in 1974, and working on a financial settlement for Swain County has been an everyday job since [then] for me.” Douthit is an active member of Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County, a group backing a $52 million settlement to Swain County.

Greg Kidd of the National Parks Conservation Association’s Asheville office felt the recommendation was long overdue. “I’m extremely excited,” he said. “Thanks to the leadership of Congressman Heath Shuler and Sen. Elizabeth Dole, we’re moving ahead, and that’s great. Now it opens the door to legislation for Congress to actually appropriate the money.”

The road drew strong opposition because it would have harmed the natural habitat in one of the most pristine areas in the East and cost almost $600 million. However, construction of a North Shore Road is still advocated by some descendants of those who moved out of the area in the 1940s.

Linda Hogue, president of the North Shore Road Association, which supports building the road, was not pleased with the announcement. “I think it’s no surprise,” she said. “The Park Service had no intention to build the road, if they could help it. But we’re not giving up. Our group is looking at our future options.”

The area north of Fontana Lake was not part of the original Great Smoky Mountains National Park, formed in the 1930s. Until the 1940s, several communities lived in and north of the current lake location. The only access to and from their homes was a narrow, twisting road, from Bryson City to Deal’s Gap. The TVA dam flooded the road and several communities, and the residents had to move out. The land north of the lake was then amalgamated into the park.

The federal government promised to build a road on the North Shore of Fontana Lake after World War II if Congress appropriated the money. The NPS constructed less than a mile of road west of Fontana Dam and about six miles from the eastern boundary of the Park. In 1971, construction stopped when builders hit acid-bearing rock that would cause serious water contamination. The road now ends in a tunnel outside of Bryson City.

No further federal funding was received for the road until 2001, when then Rep. Charles Taylor revived the issue by obtaining $16 million for further construction, thus triggering the current process. For those who wish to visit cemeteries where their ancestors are buried, the NPS provides free boat transportation across the lake and a shuttle as close as vehicles can get to the cemeteries.

The Final Environment Impact Statement, which will recommend the cash settlement, will be published in September and then be available for public comments for 30 days. Regarding the early announcement of the NPS plan, Ditmanson explained that “even though the FEIS will not be released for several months, we wanted to be responsive to the intense public interest in the status of this undertaking.”

Shuler wants to end 'Road to Nowhere' - HendersonvilleNews.com - Times-News

March 28, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander  of Tennessee and members of both states' congressional delegations will call for the federal government to issue a cash settlement to Swain County and end the controversial "Road to Nowhere"  in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Shuler,  a Waynesville Democrat, and Republican Alexander will hold a press  conference today to release a joint letter to Secretary of the Interior  Dirk Kempthorne calling for a cash settlement to Swain County.        Shuler,  a Swain County native, has said he will push for a plan to pay the  county $52 million to buy out a 1943 agreement to build the road. The  National Park Service continues to study building 38 miles of road  at an estimated cost of $590 million.

In 1943,  the federal government promised to build a road to follow the north  shore of Fontana Lake to replace a road inundated by the lake. The  road would provide families access to former home sites and  graveyards in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Park  Service built seven of the road's 42 miles, but stopped construction in 1972 because of high costs and damage to the environment. National and regional environmental groups have continued  to fight efforts to complete the road, saying it would damage  the one of the largest roadless areas in the East.

The Park  Service has been studying the road for years since Former U.S. Rep.  Charles Taylor, a Brevard Republican, secured a $16 million  appropriation for the project, triggering an environmental impact  study. The Swain County Board of Commissioners and North Carolina  Gov. Mike Easley are among those favoring a cash settlement.

Descendants of the people buried in the North Shore road cemeteries are already driven by the Park personnel. They constantly upgrade the trails to keep them drivable. See the work being done on Hazel Creek below.

See http://www.northshoreroad.info/index.htm for all details.

Please read it and give your input to the park. This is not a local issue; this is a national park and a national issue.

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Upgrade work to Hazel Creek Trail for cemetery access

This picture was taken by Linda Beja at Campsite 83 on Hazel Creek Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in early November 2005.

The park is upgrading the trail into a road so they can transport people from the landing dock on the far side of Fontana Lake to the cemeteries. If you walk these trails on the north shore of Fontana Lake, you will see buses, vans and other vehicles. These cemetery visitations occur on Sundays from April to October. Anyone can go; you do not need to have a connection with the area.

From Bob Miller, spokesperson for the GSMNP

This photo is of rehabilitation of Bone Valley Road (a branch of Hazel Creek Road). Bone Valley Road is one of five roads on the North Shore that are maintained to continue to provide safe transportation to NS (North Shore) cemeteries.

Besides Bone Valley the other are: Woody Cemetery Road, Pilkey Creek Rd, Cable Branch Road, and Chambers Creek Road. A contractor - Philips and Jordan, Inc. - was contracted to haul, spread, and grade 3850 tons - 257 dump truck loads - of base rock and gravel to repair washouts, ruts and erosion of the worst areas of 4.8 miles of administrative roads scattered over the five roads. No new roads were constructed. The total amount available under the contract is $311,222. All that material and the equipment to transport and spread it had to be hauled across Fontana by barge which makes up a major component of the cost.

The money used was NPS Repair/Rehab funding. The most recent damage to the roads had occurred during the May 2003 flood which destroyed one of the Hazel Creek bridges, which was replaced in summer 2004 to provide access to do the Bone Valley road work in 2005. Aside from that 2003 flood there had been decades of other rain events and other normal wear and tear due to weather and time. Past work has been limited to in-house patching of the worst problem areas.