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The Blue Ridge Parkway is a long, linear park that was established as a recreational connecting road between Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks. Given the expanse and nature of the National Park, guidance is necessary to grow and maintain the Parkway facilities. These documents provide information on the aim, scope and direction that the Parkway will proceed in the years to come.
Scenic Experience Project
The Blue Ridge Parkway Scenic Experience Project, completed in two phases between 2000-2003, was designed to answer three key questions:
- What are the benefits of scenic quality preservation along the Parkway?
- What kind of tradeoffs are visitors willing to make among Parkway amenities? In other words, are they willing to give up trails and campsites in order to maintain or improve scenic quality?
- If view quality declines, what will happen to visitation levels and the surrounding regional economies?
General Findings:
- Parkway visitors are extremely loyal; on average, they have been visiting 20 years.
- Parkway visitors are generally very satisfied with their experiences on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
- Despite the fact that visitors to the Parkway do not pay an entrance fee to enjoy the park, it is clear that visitors derive significant economic value from their experiences. This is based on results from both the expenditures that they make while on their trips, and their stated willingness to pay for the benefits that the Parkway provides.
- Respondents indicated that the scenic quality along the Parkway is an important reason for their visitation. They indicated they would take fewer trips if scenic quality declines, and would make more trips with scenic quality improvements.
- This study verifies what people already know: that scenic beauty and recreational amenities are important to visitors in the southwest Virginia and northern North Carolina sections of the Parkway.
- The study is significant because it estimates the economic value that Parkway visitors receive from the unpriced amenities that the Parkway offers. In other words, just because people don't directly pay for the scenic beauty of this region doesn't mean that they have no value for it. This study suggests that respondents value scenic beauty very highly, and will change their visitation behaviors if scenic quality is degraded.
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