- Where
- Virginia and North Carolina
United States - Start / end
- Rockfish Gap, VA (milepost 0) to US 441, NC (milepost 469)
- Length
- 469 mi / 754.8 km (NPS; FHWA)
- Designation
- All-American Road (FHWA); a national parkway
- Season
- Open all year; sections close for weather and repairs
- Fees
- No entrance fee (NPS)
- Status
- Closed MP 344.2–355.3 (Helene) and MP 76.4–85.9 (weather cleanup); detour at MP 63.5–63.9 (NPS, 13 Oct 2026)
- Advisory
- United States
(no State Department level)
Mountains fading away in rows, each one paler than the last, and the road running along the very crest with farms and fences dropping away on either side. No lorries, no signs selling anything, just stone tunnels and an overlook every few minutes. Somewhere in the middle a ribbon of concrete curled out round the side of a peak, holding on to nothing I could see.
Route facts
- Route
- Rockfish Gap, Virginia (milepost 0) to US 441 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina (milepost 469)
- Length
- 469 miles (754.8 km, the Federal Highway Administration’s conversion)Checked · National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway
- Season window
- Open all year; sections close for weather and repairsChecked · National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway: road status and closures
- Closures
- Partly closed as read On 13 October 2026, milepost 344.2 to 355.3 (Hurricane Helene damage) and 76.4 to 85.9 (temporary, weather-related cleanup) were closed, with a signed detour around the James River Bridge at milepost 63.5 to 63.9.Live alert: National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway: road status and closures
- Fees
- No entrance fee; fees are charged for campingChecked · National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway: frequently asked questions
- Cost to enter
- Free
- Anchor point
- Linn Cove Viaduct
36.10° N, 81.81° W
The short answer
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a two-lane road of 469 miles along the crests of the Blue Ridge and neighbouring ranges, from Rockfish Gap in Virginia (milepost 0), where the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park ends, to US 441 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina (milepost 469). It is a national parkway run by the National Park Service, with no entrance fee, and the Federal Highway Administration lists it as an All-American Road. The road is open all year, but sections close for weather and repairs. As of 7:35 a.m. on 13 October 2026, the Park Service listed two closed sections: milepost 344.2 to 355.3, from NC 80 to Mount Mitchell State Park, still shut by Hurricane Helene damage, with recreation of any kind prohibited; and milepost 76.4 to 85.9 in Virginia, from the Apple Orchard parking area to VA 43 at the Peaks of Otter, closed temporarily for weather-related cleanup. On 5 October the Park Service said 458 of the 469 miles had reopened after Helene.
Why it's worth knowing
A road for hard times. The Park Service traces the idea to Franklin Roosevelt’s visit to the new Skyline Drive in 1933, and Senator Harry Byrd’s suggestion to extend it to the Great Smoky Mountains. Interior Secretary Harold Ickes approved the “park-to-park” highway as a public works project on 24 November 1933 and hired the landscape architect Stanley Abbott to oversee it. Asheville lobbied hard to bring the route through the city instead of through Tennessee, and won; construction began on 11 September 1935 near Cumberland Knob. About 170 miles were open when the United States entered the Second World War.
The missing link. The Park Service’s Mission 66 programme finished everything except 7.7 miles around Grandfather Mountain, whose owner, Hugh Morton, objected to the planned cut on the grounds of the mountain’s ecology, the Park Service says. The answer was the Linn Cove Viaduct, built from the top down so that nothing but its seven piers touched the ground. It opened in 1987, completing the continuous 469-mile route.
Closed end to end. In September 2024 Hurricane Helene brought up to 30 inches of rain and winds up to 60 mph to parts of the Parkway, the Park Service says: 100 percent of the 469 miles closed, thousands of trees came down and 58 catastrophic landslides tore away sections of road. The heaviest damage lay between Linville Falls, near milepost 317, and Mount Mitchell State Park, near milepost 355. By 5 October 2026 the Park Service counted 48 of 60 slide repairs complete and 458 miles restored; the final repairs, from milepost 344 to 355, are slated for completion by the end of 2026. (Its Helene page counts 58 catastrophic landslides; its release counts 60 slide repairs.)
The field notes
Two lengths for one bridge
The Park Service’s own pages disagree about the Linn Cove Viaduct. Its history page gives 1,243 feet and a completion date of 1983; its visitor page gives 1,234 feet and says the viaduct was completed in 1982, with the roadwork around it continuing until it opened in 1987. Both agree on 153 precast concrete segments, on construction from the top down, and on the ribbon-cutting that completed the Parkway on 11 September 1987.
What else is closed
On 13 October 2026 the Park Service also listed: the James River Bridge, milepost 63.5 to 63.9 in Virginia, closed for rehabilitation with a signed detour from milepost 61.4 to 64; the Peaks of Otter Lodge, inside the temporary weather closure at milepost 76.4 to 85.9; the Roanoke Mountain Loop, closed until further notice; Linville Falls Campground and Picnic Area, closed after Helene; Crabtree Falls Campground, closed, with hiking prohibited at Crabtree Falls; and the Linn Cove Visitor Center, temporarily closed. Its 5 October release had reported that drivers could again go uninterrupted from milepost 63.7 in Virginia to Little Switzerland, near milepost 344, in North Carolina; the weather closure listed on 13 October interrupts that stretch for now. The section from Soco Gap to US 441, milepost 455.7 to 469.1, closed for weather on 12 October, was listed as open again on 13 October.
The parkway near Roanoke, Virginia, with cloud filling the valleys below, October 2016.
Photograph: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
Mabry Mill and its millpond, milepost 176, May 2005.
Photograph: Torsten Henning · Public domain · cropped
A stone-faced tunnel on the North Carolina section in autumn.
Photograph: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress · Public domain · cropped
- Pull right into the overlook to look. The person behind you lives here and has seen it.
- Go when the leaves turn, and go on a weekday. Everyone else has had the same idea about the weekend.
- Name every overlook. (Gave up. They have their names on little signs already, and have been very patient with me.)
- Look at the viaduct from below as well as from on top.
- Check which miles are open the night before, and plan the day around the gaps.
The Linn Cove Viaduct. A concrete bridge that carries the Blue Ridge Parkway around the boulder-strewn side of Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina, at milepost 304, in a long S-curve on seven piers. Its 153 segments, each about 50 tons, were cast a few miles away, each against the one before it, and lowered into place from the end of the bridge already built, so that no road and no heavy machinery had to touch the slope; only the ground under the deck was cleared, and the concrete was tinted with iron oxide to match the rock. Only one segment, the southernmost, is straight. The Park Service’s pages give its length as 1,243 and as 1,234 feet. Drivers may not stop or walk on it; overlooks and trails nearby give the view.
Tally, in the marginI drove over it without knowing, then went back and looked at it from underneath for an hour. It barely touches the mountain at all, which seems to have been the whole point, and a very polite one.
Getting there
How to drive it. The north end is at Rockfish Gap, off I-64 in Virginia, where the Skyline Drive heads north and the Parkway south. The south end meets US 441 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina. Many roads cross it, and the Park Service’s road status page lists the open sections by milepost and crossroad. FHWA allows four days to enjoy the whole road.
When to go. The Park Service says autumn colour typically develops in mid to late October, and that Catawba rhododendron blooms from early June around the Peaks of Otter to the third week of June at Craggy Gardens. Most visitor centres, campgrounds and picnic areas open only from spring to autumn; the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center and the Folk Art Center near Asheville are open all year.
What to arrange ahead. Nothing for the road: there is no entrance fee. Campsites can be reserved on Recreation.gov, except at Crabtree Falls. Check the Park Service’s road status page the day before, and allow for the 2026 closures above.
Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here. The Park Service warns that mobile phones do not work in many places and GPS can be unreliable, that some curves tighten as you go through them, that sleeping overnight in a vehicle at an overlook is not allowed, and that the Parkway is bear country.
Mark this place
Common questions
Is the Blue Ridge Parkway open?
Mostly. On 13 October 2026 the National Park Service listed the Blue Ridge Parkway closed from milepost 344.2 to 355.3, NC 80 to Mount Mitchell State Park, because of Hurricane Helene damage, and from milepost 76.4 to 85.9 in Virginia, near the Peaks of Otter, temporarily for weather-related cleanup. On 5 October it said 458 of the 469 miles had reopened after Helene.
When will the Blue Ridge Parkway fully reopen after Hurricane Helene?
The National Park Service said on 5 October 2026 that the final Hurricane Helene road repairs on the Blue Ridge Parkway, from milepost 344 to 355 in North Carolina, were slated for completion and reopening by the end of 2026.
How long is the Blue Ridge Parkway?
The Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles (754.8 km) long, from Rockfish Gap in Virginia, milepost 0, to US 441 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, the National Park Service and the Federal Highway Administration say.
Is there a fee to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway?
No. The National Park Service charges no entrance fee for the Blue Ridge Parkway. It charges fees for camping, with half price on camping fees for holders of Interagency Senior and Access passes.
When is the best time to see fall colour on the Blue Ridge Parkway?
The National Park Service says fall colour on the Blue Ridge Parkway typically develops in mid to late October, though many factors change when and where colour peaks in a given year.
Is the Blue Ridge Parkway a national park?
Not technically. The National Park Service calls the Blue Ridge Parkway a national parkway, not a national park, though the Park Service runs both. It joins Shenandoah National Park’s Skyline Drive at Rockfish Gap and ends at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
What is the Linn Cove Viaduct?
The Linn Cove Viaduct is a curving concrete bridge of 153 precast segments that carries the Blue Ridge Parkway around Grandfather Mountain at milepost 304, North Carolina. Built from the top down to protect the mountain, it was the last link of the Parkway, which was dedicated as complete on 11 September 1987.
When was the Blue Ridge Parkway built?
Construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway began on 11 September 1935 near Cumberland Knob, North Carolina, the National Park Service says. Most of it was finished by the 1960s; the last link, the Linn Cove Viaduct around Grandfather Mountain, opened in 1987.