Great Smoky Mountains National Park is seeking the public’s input on a draft corridor management plan for Newfound Gap Road. The plan is required for park officials to seek designation for the road as a National Scenic Byway, which would open opportunities for the park and gateway communities to compete for special grants that enhance the travel corridor.
The draft Newfound Gap Road Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan has been posted on the National Park Service Planning, Environment and Public Comment website for public review. Comments received during the 30-day review period, ending February 24, will be considered in the development of the final plan.
Newfound Gap Road is already a designated state scenic highway in both Tennessee and North Carolina. Park officials believe that Newfound Gap Road also meets the qualifications necessary to be designated as a National Scenic Byway. The first step in the eligibility process for the national designation is the preparation of a corridor management plan that addresses a variety of roadway attributes including the visitor experience and sustainability as a scenic byway.
Corridor management plans guide the management of scenic byways to protect the important qualities associated with the byway. These are not decision-making documents such as those prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act, which typically evaluate a specific proposal or a set of alternatives for decision. Rather, corridor management plans provide an overarching framework for future planning.
Specifically, the park is interested in learning the following from the public: 1) if there are significant visitor experiences available to visitors traveling Newfound Gap Road that have not been considered and what those experiences are, and 2) if there are additional steps or strategies that should be considered that would help maintain the outstanding qualities of this corridor.
Comments
My wife and I travel National Scenic Byways every chance we get. None of the ones in Texas, Oklahoma, or Arkansas charge any kindividual of fee, though there is sometimes a small fee for camping in the developed campgrounds.
Do they charge to drive the Scenic Byways elsewhere?
Wow. The Great American Entitlement Mentality is on full display here today. (But I'm puzzled because I see no mention of fees in either the article here or in the planning documents linked to the article.)
But get ready -- there may be a lot of fees coming to other facilities near you.
Have you heard the rumblings of The Donald's ideas to fund infrastructure improvements using "private investments?"
Even a couple GOP members of Congress and our Utah legislators have openly questioned if this will mean Tolls for roads, bridges, tunnels and other things that have been "privately funded."
There should never be a fee for our National Park. No fee means no. Fee.
Please read the print before commenting on things people? Nowhere does it say they would charge for anything even if the road becomes a Scenic Byway...The Blue Ridge Parkway is a Scenic Byway and there's no charge to enter it either...c'mon people, don't be 'the sheep' ......From the actual article "The plan is required for park officials to seek designation for the road as a National Scenic Byway, which would open opportunities for the park and gateway communities to compete for special grants that enhance the travel corridor." It would help to apply for Special Grants (Free money)
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of Almighty God's greatest creations. It should NEVER have an admission charge. Also, adding the suggested road to the National Scenic Byways with USA Government subsidy should be done ASAP. Then, visitors and their dollars being spent at National Park venues will help keep these fine areas operating for many years to come. Let's get this situation started and the AWESOMENESS of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in motion.
Not sure why everyone is panicking and mistakenly thinking this means a fee. Nowhere is that mentioned. Plus there are lots of other scenic byways all over the southeast, none of which have a fee. This simply means the park will be eligible for extra federal funds to maintian the road. Seems like a good idea.
For a little bit of historical perspective for folks who are not from the area, most of the fee comments are coming from locals because the new Superintendent has been talking about how he is restricted from imposing an entrance fee because of the deed restriction on Newfound Gap road. People here in E. TN know that the NPS has been angling to find a way to charge an entrance fee for years. Any talk of Newfound Gap road is usually related to their desire and hopes to see the deed restriction on that road lifted. I'm glad people are voicing their concerns because if Cash and his cronies try to Cash in on NF gap road, they will have a fight on their hands. I am proud to be a Tennessean because my forbears saw this kind of crap coming in 1951.
Whew. Lots of fear mongering in America today.
First, the proposed designation described above does not require, authorize, propose or permit a fee. Really.
Second, the leadership of this National Park, far before the current managers, have stated that the lack of an entry fee places them at a funding disadvantage relative to other similar parks. They are not seeking a entry fee.
They are just stating the fact that other parks have a fee, so maybe Smokies should get a larger slice of the nationwide budget than those fee funded parks.
it is just a fact that other parks do lots of good work funded by their entry fee and Smokies does not have those funds.