Linn Cove Viaduct Remains Closed, No Timetable Given for a Reopening Date

By Nathan Ham

The Linn Cove Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway is still closed after paving crews have been unable to complete the roadwork during one of the wettest months of May in history in the High Country.

There has been no timetable for the Viaduct reopening, only that the final paving steps will require a minimum of 48 hours of dry weather to finish. Project managers will resume the project as soon as there is enough dry weather to do so. A section of the Tanawha Trail below the Viaduct remains closed as well.

The repair project for the Linn Cove Viaduct started in March of this year to not only add fresh asphalt to the road but also complete some bridge and structure maintenance, railing repairs and drainage repairs.

For up-do-date road information for the Blue Ridge Parkway, the National Park Service website for the Parkway offers road closure information and detour information here.

Grandfather Mountain is still open for residents and tourists despite the Viaduct closure and the Highway 221 closure between Blowing Rock and Linville that is also still closed for repairs. Visitors from Boone and Blowing Rock will need to travel N.C. Highway 105 South to U.S. 221 North to get to the park while people traveling from Asheville and that area can travel U.S. 221 North to the entrance as the road closure is south of that area. 

If you are traveling north on the Blue Ridge Parkway to get to Grandfather Mountain, take the exit at milepost 305 to get to the entrance.

“We’re thankful for the N.C. Department of Transportation’s efforts in keeping our guests and motorists safe,” said Frank Ruggiero, director of marketing and communications for the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation. “Fortunately, Grandfather Mountain itself did not sustain significant damage.