Thursday, January 21, 2010
Several areas of slow thaw have kept parkway closed
Patches of snow and ice have lingered in shady spots and on bridges and overpasses.
Photos by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times
Snow and ice removal is not a priority on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which means Mother Nature has to clear the road. But the recent cold snap has kept parts of the parkway closed longer than usual.
Traffic is slowly resuming on the Blue Ridge Parkway, often the first road to see snow arrive and the last to see it leave.
About half of a 202-mile stretch of the parkway that runs through Western Virginia remained closed Wednesday because of the record-breaking snowstorm that hit Dec. 18.
Snow and ice removal is not a priority on the scenic roadway; officials with the U.S. National Park Service usually shut it down after a snowfall and wait for warmer temperatures to make it passable again.
"We simply don't have the equipment and the manpower to get out there and plow," said Ann Childress, chief of interpretation and education for the parkway.
An extended period of below-normal temperatures following last month's snow has resulted in the longest closure of the parkway in recent years.
Although lengthy stretches of the parkway are now clear, sections remain closed because patches of snow and ice have lingered in the shady spots and on bridges and overpasses.
Earlier this week, a six-mile section of the parkway that runs from U.S. 460 in Botetourt County to Virginia 24 in Roanoke County, just east of Vinton, was reopened. The rest of the parkway that runs though the Roanoke region and into Floyd County remained closed on Wednesday.
From Rockfish Gap near Waynesboro to Fancy Gap near the North Carolina line, 112 of the 202 parkway miles were still off-limits to vehicular traffic -- although in some spots the remaining snow showed imprints of passing hikers and bicyclists.
Officials hope that milder weather, combined with some snow removal efforts in the trouble spots that remain, will allow them to reopen the rest of the parkway in the coming days.
Most of the commercial attractions along the parkway are either closed for the winter or experiencing a seasonal lull that minimized the impact of the road closures.
"Historically, this time of the year is our slow time," said Ron Stull, general manager of the Peaks of Otter Lodge and restaurant in Bedford County.
