ROANOKE, VA. (WFXR) – For thousands of hikers every year, the view at McAfee Knob is the payoff. However, with limited parking, roadside congestion, and busy traffic crossings, getting there has been a challenge.
“Even in the last ten years, the amount of visitation and then the traffic, when you’re hiking through, hiking with the 50 pound pack, and you’re trying to race across this road with people come in 55 miles around corners and up hills,” said U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
According to the National Park Service, more than 50,000 hikers visit the trail every year.
“It was so popular and yet our facilities were under prepared for that kind of crowd,” said Martha Hooker, Catawba representative for the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County…