Blue Ridge Parkway Road Closures & Travel Updates

Stay updated on the latest Blue Ridge Parkway road closures and conditions before your trip. Weather, maintenance, and seasonal factors can affect access to certain sections of the Parkway, so checking the current status throughout your trip helps to ensure a safe and enjoyable drive. Find real-time closure information, detours, and tips for alternate routes. Know what to expect, plan ahead, and travel confidently on the Parkway.

Current Parkway Closures

Blue Ridge Parkway road closure information is available on the National Park Service website. This regularly updated (but not real-time) chart of Parkway sections notes whether they are closed, open, or ungated.

Parkway Reminder: Ungated sections do not have physical gates that can be closed and are open except in emergency situations.

Current Parkway Construction Projects

New Bridge Construction

Work is underway on a project to widen approximately 16.9 miles of I-26 from U.S. Hwy 64 in Hendersonville to Brevard Road in Asheville, NC. The widening of I-26 requires the installation of a new bridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway over the I-26 interstate at interstate mile marker 36 (near Parkway Milepost 391). Construction of the new bridge also requires realigning approximately 3,000 linear feet of the Parkway. Officials from NCDOT, the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Blue Ridge Parkway have agreed on a general plan to build the new bridge and remove the existing structure. More information about the Parkway bridge project is available on the NCDOT website.

Parkway Road Maintenance

Boom Axe Closures

Annually, Blue Ridge Parkway staff conduct boom axe operations to help control vegetation growth along the Parkway. This work uses a large tractor with a long arm cutting head, which helps ensure safe sight distances and a clear right-of-way. Tractors must remain in the travel lanes during operation to properly perform their work while cutting the banks and road shoulders. Both lanes of the Parkway will be closed to all activity (cars, bicycles, and hikers) in active work zones to ensure the safety of the maintenance workers as well as Parkway visitors.

Planned boom axe closures begin in November and continue through early spring. Because these short-term closures occur during daytime hours (8 am to 4 pm on weekdays only) and are dependent on favorable weather conditions, boom axe closures may not be listed on the NPS road closure chart and don’t usually have a signed detour route.