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The proposed North Shore Road would cut through a part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that is one of the largest unbroken mountain forests in the East.  At a cost of some $600 million, and serving no transportation need, the road is a boondoggle for American taxpayers.  

Worse, the highway would impair the natural resources of the park, recognized around the world as a unique biological treasure.  The highway would destroy critical habitat for migratory songbirds and other wildlife.  Acidic runoff from the exposed rock would pose a threat to aquatic life in some 140 mountain streams in the area.  The road would also destroy more than 25 miles of the Benton MacKaye Trail, and impair the backcountry experience and views along an entire section of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. 

In a draft Environmental Impact Statement released January 4, the National Park Service consistently finds that the road would have major, adverse, long-term or permanent impacts on water and air quality, historic and recreational resources, wildlife and more. 

The project has garnered opponents from far and wide, including:  NC Governor Mike Easley, the Swain County Commissioners, Bryson City Aldermen, Sen. Lamar Alexander (TN), Sen. Bill Frist (TN), Taxpayers for Common Sense, and a group of civic leaders called the Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County.  The road is also opposed by a coalition of dozens of conservation groups including the National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center, Trout Unlimited, Western North Carolina Alliance, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, NC Wildlife Federation, Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition and many, many others.   A number of NC newspapers have editorialized against the road – News & Observer, Charlotte Observer, Hendersonville News, Winston-Salem Journal, and the Asheville Citizen-Times.

The park service first considered building the road in 1943 as part of an agreement to compensate Swain County for the loss of a county road that was flooded when Fontana Lake was created.  The agency began building the road in the late 1950s, but after completing just seven miles, abandon the project due to the tremendous cost and the severe impacts to the environment. A park study noted: “.. continuation of such damage to natural park values is indefensible from either the standpoint of conservation or visitor use.”

Today, the proposed North Shore Road is not needed, and is not wanted.  Many local citizens have advocated for a monetary settlement paid to Swain County instead of a road.  The amount put forth is $52 million, the cost of the original road adjusted for inflation, which is about one-tenth the cost of building the road.  In 2001, however, Rep. Charles Taylor earmarked $16 million for a study of the road in a federal transportation appropriations bill – without subjecting the issue to full debate or hearings on the Hill. 

www.SouthernEnvironment.org/cases/north_shore/casepage.htm

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Talking Points On The "Road to No Where"

1. Support the monetary settlement alternative. A monetary settlement with Swain County meets the needs and purposes of the study, avoids all adverse impacts to the Park.  The National Park Service has determined that it is the “least environmentally damaging practicable alternative” and the “environmentally preferred alternative.”  The monetary settlement is the only alternative that will satisfy the request of the Swain County Commissioners, the Bryson City Board of Aldermen and the Governor of North Carolina.

2. Oppose all construction alternatives, both the partial-build and the full build. The park service has determined that all construction alternative will have major, adverse impacts on park resources.

3. Stress the major, adverse, permanent or long-term impacts that any construction would have on every resource that the park service examined.  This includes land use, visitor experience, archeological and historical resources, air quality, wetlands, streams, fishing, aquatic wildlife, migratory songbirds, black bear and other wildlife, rare plant spieces, the Appalachian Trail, the newly created Benton MacKaye Trail and other trails, viewsheds, native flora and fauna due to increased exposure to exotic species. 

4. Expose the giant boondoggle. The park service states that the cost of construction will be at least $590 million. That figure is equivalent to the annual budget short-fall of the entire national park system. On the other hand, the obligation of the federal government could be settled with a payment of just $52 million, a huge savings to U.S. taxpayers, and the stated preference of the county commissioners, city aldermen and NC governor.

5. The monetary settlement protects the park, immediately benefits the people of Swain County and saves U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The $52 million settlement for Swain County invested at 5% would immediately provide $2.6 million per year for the county and have no adverse environmental impacts. On the other hand, after 15 years of road construction and squandering at least $590 million tax dollars, the park service says there will be only 223 new jobs.

6. Road construction will have major adverse impacts on the backcountry experience. The park will lose trails, backcountry campsites and the primitive hiking experience.

7. Road construction will cause the loss of potential wilderness in the park. Most of the lake shore area is currently managed as wilderness due to the high quality and remoteness of that part of the park. Both the road corridor and the strip between the road and the lake will be removed from wilderness consideration.

8. Demand that NPS honor the 1916 Organic Act by leaving the Park resources: “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”  The park service has determined that every resource will suffer major, adverse, long-term or permanent impacts as a result of any road construction.

9. Take the big view of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a whole, not ripped open by a 34-mile scar gouged across it, with habitat destroyed and fragmented.