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A cash settlement would help Swain far more
than a north lakeshore road - Editorial by the
Citizen-Times Editorial staff
(Note: Says who? Says the editors of this newspaper, who apparently
are not on the same side as those that want the road that's been
promised for 61 YEARS. Says this bunch: "The Swain County
Commission supports the cash settlement. So does the Bryson City Board
of Aldermen. So do North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, U.S. Sen. John
Edwards, D-N.C., and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. The Interior
Department supported a settlement as early as 1980." So what? The
people to whom this promise of a road was made WANT THEIR ROAD BUILT.
Period!)
February 25, 2004
Asheville Citizen-Times
Asheville, North Carolina
To submit a Letter to the Editor: editor@citizen-times.com
The Road to Nowhere should become a Road to Somewhere, but that somewhere is not the interior of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. When the Tennessee Valley Authority at the outbreak of World War II took 11,800 acres of land along the Little Tennessee River to create Fontana Lake, the action meant that residents of 44,000 acres between the lake-to-be and the national park would be cut off from the outside world by the inundation of State Road 288. TVA bought the additional land and later transferred it to the National Park Service for inclusion in the park. The destruction of State Road 288 also eliminated any direct connection between Bryson City, the seat of Swain County, and a now-isolated section of Swain near the Tennessee line at Deal's Gap. TVA, the park service, Swain County and North Carolina in 1943 signed an agreement under which a new road would be built along the north shore of the lake from Bryson City to Fontana once money was available. The road was begun from Bryson City in the 1960s but halted after 6.2 miles were built due to environmental and cost concerns. A National Park Service committee said the first 2.5 miles of work "damaged the park severely" and that further work would take the road through terrain that was "even more difficult." "The committee is of the opinion that continuation of such damage to national park values is indefensible." There's where matters stood, more or less, until 2000, when U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and then-Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., tacked a rider onto a transportation bill appropriating $16 million for the road. The most recent in a series of public hearings began Monday in Bryson City and concludes Tuesday in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. More hearings, these on the environmental impact statement required, will begin March 10 in Bryson City. The issue is an emotional one in Swain County, where many people feel they have been treated unfairly and that a promise is a promise. "The agreement in '43 said they'd build a north shore road," Keith Tipton said at Monday's hearing. "If we don't stand up, we lose everything." A lot of things have changed since 1943. For one, there is a greater awareness of environmental values and a greater understanding of how the things we do can damage the environment irreversibly, not to mention new environmental laws. For another, there now is a direct road from Bryson City to Deal's Gap. It is State Road 28, which runs along the south shore of the lake from the Almond community in Swain to Fontana. Also, Swain County in fact could gain a lot from the alternative. Under one proposal, Swain would get up to $52 million in compensation. That's a lot of money for a rural county of 13,000 people, and it could do a lot to make their lives better. It's also far less what the road could cost, making it a significant savings for federal taxpayers. Additionally, the park service should construct an interpretive center at the end of the present road. This would make it a destination point. The park service could use it, among other things, to explain to visitors why that portion of the park is so valuable and why the road ends where it does. The claim by road supporters that it would boost Swain tourism doesn't hold water. Fewer than 500 cars a day pass through Deal's Gap, largely because the road on the Tennessee side is so bad. That number is not going to increase because there is a road on the north shore. In any case, there already is the direct access via State Road 28. Access to north-shore cemeteries, which was not an issue in the original agreement, is provided periodically by the park service. TVA had offered in 1943 to move graves cut off by the lake, but there apparently were no takers. The Swain County Commission supports the cash settlement. So does the Bryson City Board of Aldermen. So do North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. The Interior Department supported a settlement as early as 1980. It's time to put this issue to rest once and for all, with a deal that would preserve the park while benefiting Swain County far more than any road would. http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/editorial/50531 View or post comments on this article: |