ROANOKE, Va. ( WFXR ) – The first 198 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway reopened on Friday at 8 a.m.
The announcement came from the National Park Service Thursday afternoon just over a week after the entirety of the parkway was closed indefinitely.
Officials in the Roanoke Valley thought there was a chance the Parkway could reopen in much of the Virginia portion before it would in other sections but were not given a timetable.
Many of the attractions along the Roanoke Valley portion of the road did not have to close due to the Parkway closure because of alternate access routes but several did experience a drop in attendance over the week.
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“Over the last week or so, we haven’t gotten that traffic off the Parkway because folks have been having to navigate around to use our alternate entrance,” said Alex North with Roanoke County Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. “We’re looking forward to beautiful weather coming up over the next several weeks which means folks will be traveling on the Parkway.”