Hiking Trails Blogs

The Asheville Citizen-Times is reporting that the U.S. House has approved a provision to give Swain County in North Carolina $13 million toward settling the decades-long dispute over the so called "Road to Nowhere" through the North Shore area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

A provision backed by U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler to spend the money is part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2010 that the House passed yesterday.

Shuler’s office said the Senate is expected to pass the bill this weekend.

The bill would release $4 million in federal funds to Swain County immediately, with the remaining $8.8 million to come 120 days after a settlement agreement is reached.

A 1943 agreement between the federal government, the state of North Carolina and Swain County called for the federal government to build a road along the north shore of Fontana Lake when Congress approved the money. The road would have replaced N.C. 288, a road paid for by Swain taxpayers that was largely flooded by the lake.

Sections of the new road were built in fits and starts, but environmental concerns and a lack of money eventually halted construction. The Department of Interior decided in 2007 to pursue a cash settlement with Swain County instead.

Settlement talks since then have gone slowly and the parties have yet to agree on how much Swain County should be paid. Bob Miller, spokesman for the park, said last week that negotiators met three times in 2008 and only once this year, on Oct. 29.

“We still are very eager to settle that issue,” Miller said.

The measure moving through Congress apparently does not say how much the total amount of a settlement should be. A statement from Shuler’s office refers to the money as “a down payment on an eventual North Shore Road settlement.”

Swain leaders in the past have said the county should receive at least $52 million in lieu of the road. Some county residents, however, still want the road, saying it would provide easier access to cemeteries in the area and that visitor use of the road would be a boost to the county’s economy.

For more information on the North Shore Road (Road to Nowhere), including historical background, letters, stories and old photos, please click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.