ASHEVILLE — The Blue Ridge Parkway is not having the best year.
A road failure forced the closure Monday of a popular commuter stretch between Brevard and Hendersonville roads, parkway officials said.
Engineers planned to get a closer look today of erosion damage at the south end of a bridge carrying the parkway over Interstate 26, Parkway Ranger Steve Stinnett said.
“There was already a plan to go forward with some repairs,” Stinnett said. “The road is undercut there, about a quarter of the way under the southbound lane.”
Work to repair that damage should take about two weeks, he said, and will be done by Federal Highway Administration. The agency is considered essential personnel and is still on the job despite the shutdown, Stinnett said
The four-mile closure is unrelated to the federal government shutdown, and the rest of the Blue Ridge Parkway is still open to motor vehicle traffic.
A giant crack that was first noticed July 12 running down the center line of the parkway north of Asheville near Tanbark Ridge Tunnel caused a 20-mile closure for a couple of months between Asheville and Mount Mitchell State
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