Your Comments Needed!

Please submit your comments on the North Shore Road project by the (extended) deadline date, April 7.
They may be emailed to northshoreroad@arcadis-us.com with the subject line "North Shore Road Project", or may be sent by US mail to:

North Shore Road Project
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
P.O. Box 30185
Raleigh, NC 27622

While it is possible to visit the North Shore Rd. website and review the volumes of documentation on this project, the National Park Service has greatly simplified the task by declaring that the Environmentally Preferred Alternative is "Monetary Settlement".

So please take a moment to send your comments. All they need to say is that you are in favor of the Environmentally Preferred Alternative, the Monetary Settlement, and that you are opposed to all alternatives that involve road construction.

For details on writing a better comment letter, please see the SAFC 'comments' page.

For more information, visit the SAFC resource page.

Why the North Shore Road Should Not Be Built

The black frame in the location map below shows the affected area of our concern, approximately 30 miles long on the north side of Fontana Lake. The Benton MacKaye Trail (on Lakeshore Trail) is represented by the orange line. The proposed North Shore Road is shown by the dashed red line that parallels and crisscrosses the BMT. If this road is built, not only will great harm come to the local environment, but the hiking experience there will undergo a radical change; from that of a quiet wilderness walk to one along a noisy motor road.

Based on the findings that this project's impact would be "major, adverse," and "long-term or permanent," the BMTA would be opposed to it. But so much of the North Shore Road would be routed along our existing footpath, this project is an extreme threat. Please send in your comment letter using the links and information above.

Click image for full-size map (on National Park Service website)

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