Parkway Road Conditions

The Blue Ridge Parkway is open year round except for sections that may be closed due to ice and snow, storm damage, or for construction or maintenance activities.  Weather-related closures can change quickly during the winter. Even in summer months, winds at higher elevations have been known to bring down limbs that close sections of the Parkway. An open Parkway is a safe Parkway.

Be sure to check road conditions before you travel and during your visit to ensure the areas you want to visit are open.

Blue Ridge Parkway road closure information is available on the National Park Service website on a regularly-updated (but not real-time) chart of Parkway sections, noting whether they are closed, open or ungated. Ungated sections do not have physical gates that can be closed; these sections are open except in emergency situations.

Ice and snow may not melt quickly due to extreme temperatures, lack of sunlight in constantly shaded areas, or thawing and refreezing on bridges, so some Parkway sections may be closed for extended periods in the winter.  These sections are only opened when they are safe for travel.

Some sections of the Parkway cannot be gated and closed, and visitors should exercise extreme caution when traveling in these areas during the winter. It is important to observe all signs and information posted on the NPS website. In certain severe circumstances, sections may be closed to all traffic – including hikers, bicyclists and skiers.

Annually, Blue Ridge Parkway staff conduct boom axe operations to help control vegetation growth along the Parkway. This work, using a large tractor with a long arm cutting head, helps ensure safe sight distances and a clear right-of-way. This tractor must remain in the travel lanes during operation to properly perform its work while cutting the banks and road shoulders. Both lanes of the Parkway will be closed to all activity (cars, bicycles, and hikers) in active work zones to ensure the safety of the maintenance workers as well as Parkway visitors. Planned boom axe closures begin in November and continue through early spring. Because these short-term closures occur during daytime hours (8am to 4pm on weekdays only) and are dependent on favorable weather conditions, they may not be listed on the road closure chart and don’t usually have a signed detour route.

Current Road Projects include:

Reconstruction and Repaving is occurring from Milepost 229 to 305 through Fall 2024. Both lanes will be paved simultaneously, requiring full closure of 12-15 mile segments at a time. Detours should be posted.

The Laurel Fork Bridge at Milepost 249 is undergoing a replacement through November 2024. The Parkway is fully closed between MP 248.1 and 249.3 and a detour should be posted from MP 248.1 to MP 258.7. See detour route map below for details and access to the Northwest Trading Post (located at the southern end of the detour at MP 258.7) and Doughton Park (located North of the closure at MP 241.1). Hikers on the Mountains to Sea Trail will experience an approximately 200-yard reroute at the base of the bridge and should follow the fence line around the project site.

Parkway Road Maintenance–New Bridge Construction in Asheville Area

Work is underway on a project to widen approximately 16.9 miles of I-26 from U.S. Hwy 64, in Hendersonville, to Brevard Road, in Asheville, NC. The widening of I-26 requires the installation of a new bridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway over the I-26 interstate at interstate mile marker 36 (near Parkway Milepost 391). Construction of the new bridge also requires realigning approximately 3000 linear feet of Parkway. Officials from NCDOT, the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior and the Blue Ridge Parkway have agreed on a general plan to build the new bridge and remove the existing structure. More information about the Parkway bridge project is available here.