Saving the Smokies:
Stopping the North Shore Road

It's time to settle up!

The North Shore Road, estimated to cost at least $604 million, is a boondoggle for U.S. taxpayers. The road would forever impair one of America's most cherished and important natural resources - the Great Smoky Mountains National Park - yet would serve no transportation purpose.

The road would run through a portion of Swain County, North Carolina, that lies within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along the north shore of Fontana Lake. The impetus for building the road is to compensate Swain County for the loss, more than 60 years ago, of a county road that was flooded when the federal government built the dam creating Fontana Lake. The government agreed to build a new road - north of the lake - for Swain County if Congress appropriated the money. But over the years, the state has invested in improving roads south of the lake, so that today, there is a modern highway system providing ample transportation in this part of Swain County.

Today, the proposed North Shore Road is not needed, and is not wanted.

Swain County is nonetheless entitled to compensation for the loss of its old road. The Swain County Commissioners have concluded that the best course of action - which would compensate the county while protecting the national park - would be a monetary settlement paid by the federal government to the county. The commissioners passed a resolution in 2002 seeking a monetary payment, and continue to support the settlement. The Bryson City Aldermen have also passed a supporting resolution. Further, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, and U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist, both of Tennessee, have all written official letters to the park service as part of the public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement in support of the settlement and against the road.

A local group of community leaders - Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County, with close to 300 members - has formed and is part of a broad coalition working to secure the settlement for the county, stop the North Shore Road and protect the park. The coalition includes SELC and numerous other local, state and national conservation organizations. The amount put forth is $52 million, about the cost of the original road adjusted for inflation, which is about one-tenth the cost of building the road.

For more than 20 years, the National Park Service also supported a settlement. The agency began construction of the road in the 1960s but abandoned the project after discovering that geological formations in the area were unstable and prone to create acid runoff when excavated. As a result, miles of stream were decimated of aquatic life. The agency abandoned the project, citing the tremendous cost and the environmental damage.

Unfortunately, U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, who represents Swain County and other communities in western North Carolina, has long been a proponent of building the road. In 2001, Rep. Taylor and Senator Jesse Helms (now deceased) secured a last-minute appropriation from Congress for $16 million for the road, prompting the beginning of an official Environmental Impact Statement. Since that time, the National Park Service has taken a neutral position, notwithstanding its prior opposition to the road.

Coalition Members:

• Appalachian Trail Conservancy
• Carolina Mountain Club
• Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County
• National Parks Conservation Association
• NC Wildlife Federation
• NC Chapter of the Sierra Club
• Smoky Mountain Hiking Club
• Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project
• Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition
• Southern Environmental Law Center
• Trout Unlimited
• Western North Carolina Alliance
• Wildlaw

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