The National Park Service announced March 22 that the parkway will be impacted by the I-26 widening.

The parkway continues to have one of the highest maintenance backlogs in the NPS, at $508 million.

ASHEVILLE – Siena Dice, age 10, was ecstatic to see icicles still clinging to rock faces and tunnels at Craggy Gardens, an area above 5,000 feet elevation on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

“We’ve never seen icicles like that before. That was my favorite part,” said Dice, who was visiting the parkway last week with her parents and five siblings from Ocala, Florida.

Her sisters all agreed the ice was awesome, but they are most likely in the minority as spring began March 20, and most of Asheville is ready for the warmth to begin and to put the treacheries of ice and snow behind them.

With a spate of below-freezing temperatures, snow and ice late last week, the mountainous sections of the parkway north and south of Asheville are still closed to traffic, but parkway staff are working steadily to open the road, clear overgrown vistas and prep buildings for the expected flood of spring tourists.

Parkway Superintendent J.D. Lee, who took over helm of the national park site in February 2018, said there were some challenges to getting the 469-mile scenic roadway visitor-ready, from excessive cleanup after major storms to the six-week government shutdown, but spring openings should be on schedule.

RELATED: It's warm and sunny in Asheville, so why is the Blue Ridge Parkway closed?

RELATED: Has the Blue Ridge Parkway lost its allure?

The parkway, which cuts right through Asheville, is one of the busiest units of the National Park Service. It connects Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Cherokee, ranging in elevation from 600 feet to more than 6,000 feet above sea level.

Last year some 14.7 million people visited the parkway, for hiking, camping, picnicking and sightseeing, making it the second most visited site in the Park Service after Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco.

RELATED: Cherokee permit to harvest sochan in Smokies approved

Much of the roadway in the Western North Carolina mountains remains closed during the winter months due to snowy, icy road conditions, and most visitor centers, campgrounds and picnic areas close at the end of October.

Visitor centers, including Craggy Gardens at Milepost 364 and Waterrock Knob at MP 451, will open mid-April on a modified schedule, and should be open daily by the end of April, said parkway spokeswoman Leesa Brandon. The Parkway Visitor Center at MP 384 and the Folk Art Center at MP 382 in Asheville and the Museum of North Carolina Minerals in Spruce Pine are open year-round.

Campgrounds, including Mount Pisgah, Crabtree Falls, Linville and Julian Price, and picnic areas are expected to open May 17.

The Pisgah Inn and Restaurant at MP 408, is expected to open April 1.

“Everything will be fully operational for the season by Memorial Day weekend,” Brandon said.

A year at the helm of the parkway

Lee said parkway staff usually spend the winter months, when parkway visitation slows, with planning, renovations and hiring of seasonal staff. With the shutdown that closed all park operations and sent non-essential personnel home from Dec. 22 to Feb. 13, the hiring of staff who work between May and the end of October might be slightly delayed.

Lee said parkway staff usually spend the winter months, when parkway visitation slows, for planning, renovations, and hiring of seasonal staff. With the shutdown that closed all park operations and sent nonessential personnel home from Dec. 22 to Feb. 13, the hiring of staff who work between May and the end of October might be slightly delayed.

The parkway has 190 permanent, full-time positions and hires 125 seasonal employees.

MORE: New Blue Ridge Parkway superintendent named

“I think we’ll see a little bit of a delay, but everyone is working hard to make sure we catch up as quick as we can to have folks on board to open our visitor centers and campgrounds, get the mowing done and clean up all the debris that we still have from the winter and rain and wind storms,” Lee said March 19. “Our goal is always to open as soon as we can.”

These weren’t the only challenges Lee faced during the past year on the job, which included an ever-growing list of crumbling infrastructure going unaddressed due to lack of funding, a year with nearly 300 motor vehicle accidents, including seven resulting in death, at least eight deaths by suicide, a murder and other accidents.

Derek Shawn Pendergraft, 20, was charged with second-degree murder in July for the killing of Sara Ellis, 29. Both worked at the Pisgah Inn.

RELATED: Arrest made in Pisgah Inn homicide

The case of a woman who was raped on a trail in the Craggy Gardens area in May 2017 has still not been solved.

“Safety is our No. 1 priority – for visitors and employees,” Lee said. “By maintaining the parkway in the best shape we can, we attempt to prevent future accidents, through appropriate signage, and educational information, news release, brochures and our closures. It can be sunny and 55-60 degrees down here in Asheville and corridor is open and you drive 30 minutes up the mountain or less and there’s ice in the corners and tunnels.”

As far as accidents, Lee said speed and inattention tend to be the biggest culprits. The majority of the parkway is 45 mph, with congested areas usually lowered to 35 mph.

RELATED: Supervisory ranger's drug arrest expunged, may return to work soon

Another incident involved a parkway employee. In June, supervisory park ranger Greg Wozniak, who is in charge of law enforcement operations for the Pisgah District of the parkway including Asheville, was arrested off-duty on drug charges in Knox County, Tennessee. While Wozniak’s arrest record was expunged, he has been relieved of all his law enforcement duties since his arrest but has remained on the payroll while an internal investigation is underway.

Lee would not comment on the investigation except to say, “we are following the process,” and “I expect the highest moral character for all my employees.”

Lee, a 32-year veteran of the National Park Service, served as acting parkway superintendent from September 2017 until February 2018, when he was assigned permanently. He began his career as a seasonal law enforcement ranger and wildland firefighter in the Smokies.

He worked at parks coast to coast and was deputy superintendent of Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida just before coming to Asheville, where the parkway is headquartered.

Lee is paid at a GS-15 salary, which ranges from $105,000 to $136,000.

He said the biggest challenge on the parkway is the complexity of managing a road that stretches 469 miles through 29 counties and two states.

“For us to traverse the parkway in a day is impossible,” he said. “It’s one of the greatest challenges, but it gives you an opportunity to get out on the parkway and get to know the local communities. They are as equally as important to the success of parkway’s values as the visitors and employees.”

An NPS visitor spending report last year showed the Blue Ridge Parkway wields a $1 billion economic impact on its neighboring communities, the highest in the Park Service. The Smokies has the second highest visitor spending impacts with $923 million.

Running the parkway on a “shoestring”

But while visitors spend in surrounding towns, there is no entrance fee for the parkway. Lee manages a $16.3 million budget, one that has remained stagnant for more than a decade. It also stands to be cut if President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2020 is approved.

According to the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association, the proposed budget would cut the National Park Service’s budget by $481 million, putting into jeopardy the protection, maintenance and operation of the more than 400 national parks and cut hundreds of ranger jobs.

“The Park Service is already operating on shoestring budgets, and due to years of additional cuts, our parks are dealing with crumbling facilities and too few rangers and other staff to serve visitors,” Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the NPCA said in a statement.

The parkway continues to have one of the highest maintenance backlogs in the NPS, mushrooming from $462 million in deferred maintenance in 2017 to $508 million last year. Most of the unmet needs are in road repairs, including the roadway, tunnels, bridges and culverts on the nearly 85-year-old park.

“The greatest bulk of that is the road itself. A lot our infrastructure is coming to the end of its life expectancy, so we’re looking over the next several years at multiple bridge and culvert projects,” Lee said.

But the backlog can also be seen at popular spots such as Craggy Gardens Picnic Area, where picnic benches and bathrooms are falling apart.

“We work hard to provide a safe and enjoyable visit to the public. We have 26 tunnels on the parkway, which require constant observation and often doing minor and major repairs to tunnels.”

He said once the final budget is released later this spring, parkway staff will “look at what will be possible for this year.” He said in addition to a base budget, the parkway receives funding from the Federal Highway Administration.

On March 22, the National Park Service announced that the parkway will be affected by the impending widening of I-26. The NPS will adopt the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Final Environmental Impact Statement for the project in Buncombe and Henderson counties.

The NPS is a cooperating agency for the project and has been involved in the project planning, preparation, and analysis that are documented in the Final EIS, Brandon said.

She said the planned widening of I-26 will conflict with the existing piers for the Blue Ridge Parkway Bridge and a new bridge spanning I-26 will need to be built adjacent to the existing bridge on the south side.

She said the work will take about three years. The new bridge will be 606 feet long, with two 10-foot lanes, 3-foot shoulders and a 5-foot sidewalk on one side to accommodate the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. There is also additional parking for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail planned on part of the old parkway motor road alignment. The parkway will remain open during the construction of the new bridge and demolition of the existing bridge.

Coming this year, visitors can expect lots of other construction activity, Lee said.

Carolyn Ward, CEO of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, which raises funds for parkway projects, said the nonprofit will be committing $1.4 million to maintenance and renovation work that otherwise would not get done. This includes completion of the $3.5 million, multiyear campaign to refurbish the Moses Cone Manor Home, built in the early 1900s in Blowing Rock.

Another large project will be renovating the Bluffs Restaurant at Doughton Park in Allegheny County, which has been shuttered since 2010.

RELATED: Parkway gets spruced up with "Renew the Views" project

In the Asheville area, Phase 2 at Craggy Gardens will include installation of interpretive exhibits on the visitor center’s exterior, and vista clearing at overlooks from Craggy Gardens and southward, for $60,000.

Jeffrey Hunter, program manager for the Asheville-based Southeast Region of the National Parks Conservation Association, said there might be more hope on the horizon.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) co-sponsored the Restore Our Parks Act, which would create a fund from energy production revenues to address the maintenance backlog.

“It’s got broad bipartisan support and we’re hopeful that Congress will pass it,” Hunter said.

Despite all the money woes and other challenges, Lee said he wants the public to know they can expect a safe, enjoyable trip on the parkway by following the speed limit and using pullouts to gape at the scenery.

"Our goal at the end of day is for our visitor to have that 'ah' moment when they get on the parkway from your favorite overlook or mountaintop, and know that they’re doing it in a safe manner," Lee said.

"I want folks to know we take a lot of pride in what we do. It shows in our excitement and the opportunity to share that with the public. It's inherently ingrained in our DNA."

Learn more

What: Blue Ridge Parkway Season Preview. Meet National Park Service staff and learn more about the parkway.

When: 4-6 p.m. April 3

Where: American Legion Building, 333 Wallingford Road, Blowing Rock.

Who: Parkway Superintendent J.D. Lee along with other representatives of the Parkway’s management team, staff and partners.

More information: Visit www.nps.gov/blri or call 828-348-3400.