Photo: NPS
Repair work is under way on a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Roanoke Valley, but major damage is keeping another section shut down until further notice.The closures are the result of landslides after May’s heavy sustained rains. Parkway Spokesperson Caitlin Worth says repairs are underway between Explore Park and US 220, and that part should reopen by fall. But a far more serious slide took out the roadway between 220 and Adney Gap, and there is no timetable yet for that section’s repair and reopening. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
NEWS RELEASE: Roanoke, VA – National Park Service (NPS) officials announced today that a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway from Milepost 112.4 to Milepost 115.5 is now open providing access to Explore Park from the north. This section is the northernmost portion of a larger closure put in place in late May after multiple landslides in the area. Access to Explore Park via the Parkway remains closed from the south, and through traffic on the parkway south of Explore Park (milepost 115.5) remains closed to Adney Gap (milepost 135.9).
On May 22, 2020, NPS officials announced heavy rain created multiple road hazards in the Roanoke, Virginia, area of the Parkway that required a road closure from milepost 112.4 to milepost 135.9, from U.S. Route 24 to Adney Gap.
Two road hazards in the sections that remain closed, at milepost 119.7 and milepost 127.9, require significant reconstruction and slide prevention measures prior to reopening. Repairs at the smaller of these slides (milepost 119.7) will take place first, in an effort to reopen the section from the Explore Park Access Rd (milepost 115.5) to U.S. 220 (milepost 121.4) by fall of 2020.
The largest hazard is a full road failure roughly one hundred and fifty feet (150′) in length at milepost 127.9. This complex road failure will require a longer term closure for repair, and the estimated timeline for these repairs is still in development. Visitors are reminded that, due to the hazardous nature of this slope failure, the section of parkway from U.S. 220 (milepost 121.4) to Adney Gap (milepost 135.9) is closed to all uses including motor vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.
Updates to the road status will be made when available on the park website at www.nps.gov/blri, via press release and on social media at www.facebook.com/blueridgenps. Please note, at this time the Real Time Road Map does not reflect this partial re-opening of the motor road.
