Six-Eleven Bicycle Co.

Make Your Voice Heard: 12/16 Deadline for Parkway Plan

Many of you have heard about the Blue Ridge Parkway General Management Plan (GMP) that is currently in the works. In the past few days articles have been posted on BRAIN, Blue Ridge Outdoors, and given honorable mention on Bike Snob, along with I’m sure many other articles that I haven’t gotten the chance yet to read.

The articles are all referencing the General Management Plan’s proposed alternative B, which the National Park Service has claimed as its preferred plan for managing the Parkway in the next 20 years. I’ve briefly read the proposal along with the current articles out there about the proposal, and have summed it up as follows. Alternative A proposes that the management remain relatively untouched and similar to current management. It’s the no change option. Alternative B will be discussed below, and alternative C suggests more closely integrating the parkway with its surrounding regions. Again, alternative B is the National Park Service’s current preferred alternative.

Alternative B proposes that the Parkway be “actively managed as a traditional, self-contained, scenic recreational driving experience and designed landscape.” Any cyclist can immediately see the danger in declaring a road that is currently used by both cyclists and motorists for solely the “driving experience”.  We’re fortunate that the speed limit on the parkway is already set to a modest 45 mph. But there is still plenty of need for more cycling advocacy, tolerance, and support along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I also wonder why the potential income fro cyclists using the Parkway hasn’t been taken into consideration in this Alternative B proposal. Cyclists, as it turns out, do travel to ride. Bikes are easier to take on planes than cars, and promoting cycling is not only encouraging health and energy conscious recreation, but it is also adding a second, alternative market to which the National Park Service can advertise the Blue Ridge Parkway and its surrounding areas.

The Blue Ridge Parkway stretches from North Carolina to Virginia along the Blue Ridge Mountains and provides a scenic, paved road for cars, cyclists, and hikers to access parks and recreational areas along the way. We are lucky to live barely 5 miles from the Parkway, and in season use it at least weekly, if not several times a week for training rides. We are so lucky to have such a valuable resource in our backyard, and we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to protect it and make it safe for cyclists. The 45 mile per hour speed limit helps, but limiting speed won’t eliminate the jerks on the road. The Parkway needs to have active steps taken towards making it more cycling friendly and more co-habitable for cars, cyclists, and hikers alike.

First, its astonishing that we live so close to the parkway and are just now hearing about this proposal, 57 days into the 60 day discussion window. It’s imperative that we all let Superintendent Phillip A. Francis Jr. know that we do not approve of the current Alternative B. Second, I’m shocked that this proposal has been in the works for almost 10 years.

To comment on the proposal please go here.

And to read the proposal in its entirety, please click here.

With the reading and research I’ve done, I don’t believe that anyone is trying to “ban cycling” on the Parkway. I do, however, believe that cycling needs to be encouraged, not ignored on the Parkway, and that designating the road solely for the purpose of recreational driving will be detrimental in the long run for the safety and well being of everyone who uses the Parkway. Please make your voice heard during this period of public comment.

-Michelle