Answer Woman: Speeding on Blue Ridge Parkway seems high in Asheville; Who enforces limits?

Karen Chávez, Asheville Citizen Times
·4 min read
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A reader asks is speed limits are enforced on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
A reader asks is speed limits are enforced on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Today’s burning questions involve the beloved Blue Ridge Parkway ― officially the most visited site in the National Park Service ― and whether speed limits are enforced and do visitors still need to be masked up? Have a question for Answer Man or Answer Woman? Email me at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.

Question: Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway commuter section (Charlotte Highway to Hendersonville Road) I have always wondered if speeding along this section is ever monitored. The speed limit is 35 mph, however almost no one drives that speed. Are the posted limits a suggestion or is it even enforceable? If enforceable, whose jurisdiction is it?

Answer: Bottom line, yes, speeding on the parkway is monitored and enforced, according to parkway spokesperson Leesa Brandon. She added that she was glad for the question because speeding is “an important issue” on the parkway. Perhaps the biggest.

The “commuter zone” the reader references is not called “the commuter zone” in anyplace official. But it is sort of a scenic, shortcut to get home, to work or elsewhere for locals, in the roughly 10-mile stretch between the U.S. 74A entrance (Charlotte Highway) in Fairview at Milepost 384 and Hendersonville Road in South Asheville at MP 389, and farther south to the Brevard Road/N.C. 191 entrance at MP 393.

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But speeding through this section, which includes zipping right by parkway headquarters and the Visitor Center (which is also the law enforcement headquarters, so that’s kind of silly) is dangerous, and illegal.

“The average number of speeding citations annually, over the last five years, on the Blue Ridge Parkway is approximately 420. The posted speed limits are enforceable by National Park Service law enforcement rangers, and we appreciate the public’s cooperation with abiding by the posted speed limits,” Brandon said.

“The parkway requires extra care while driving ― unforgiving road shoulders, limited sight distances, built in distractions ― and whether you’re enjoying an afternoon drive to your favorite overlook or going across town, maintaining the posted speed limit helps protect park visitors and park resources.”

The 469-mile parkway ― which received 15.7 million visitors in 2022, making it the busiest of all national park sites ― was built as a two-lane, sleepy, scenic road back during the Great Depression, in the days of fewer, slower cars, and not built for speed.

“Speed and inattention are the two most common contributing factors to motor vehicle accidents on the parkway,” Brandon said.

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There were 11 deaths on the parkway in 2021 related to motor vehicle accidents and four deaths related to MVAs in 2022, Brandon said.

The maximum speed limit anywhere on the parkway, which stretches from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia down to the Cherokee entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is 45 mph.

Face masks are optional but not required at parkway facilities.
Face masks are optional but not required at parkway facilities.

However, more congested areas often have lower speed limits, including the following areas, which have a 35-mph speed limit:

  • MP 383.4 to 388.8: Asheville Corridor

  • MP 408 to 409: Mount Pisgah Developed Area

  • MP 416.8 to 420.2: Graveyard Fields Corridor

The speed limit is 25 mph at the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center Area, MP 364, about 20 miles northeast of Asheville, due to “documented traffic safety concerns.”

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Question: Are masks still required in the visitor centers and other buildings on the parkway?

Answer: Brandon said the mask guidance across the parkway, and the National Park Service, hasn't changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is to take the lead of the local communities.

"The guidance we're using is to refer visitors to the CDC community levels at any given area that they're visiting," she said. "All of the counties up and down the parkway with indoor facilities are at a low community level. So that means masks are certainly optional but they’re not required."

This is the opinion of Karen Chávez is Interim Executive Editor for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Tips, comments, questions? Call 828-236-8980, email, KChavez@CitizenTimes.com or follow on Twitter @KarenChavezACT.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Blue Ridge Parkway speeding in Asheville enforced