![]() And, of special importance to those displaced residents, it was to have provided access to the old family cemeteries where generations of ancestors remained behind.īut Lakeview Drive fell victim to an environmental issue and construction was stopped, with the road ending at a tunnel, about six miles into the park. ![]() Lakeview Drive was to have stretched along the north shore of Fontana Lake, from Bryson City to Fontana, 30 miles to the west. The Federal government promised to replace Highway 288 with a new road. The old road was buried beneath the deep waters of Fontana Lake. With the creation of the Park, their homes were gone, and so was Old Highway 288 the road to those communities. Hundreds of people were forced to leave the small Smoky Mountain communities that had been their homes for generations. Fontana Lake is actually a reservoir for Fontana Dam, which was built as a TVA project during World War II to produce electricity for ALCOA aluminum plants in Tennessee as well as for Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manhattan Project. In the 1930s and 1940s, Swain County gave up the majority of its private land to the Federal Government for the creation of Fontana Lake and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If you plan to walk through the tunnel you might want a flashlight and be aware horseback riders use the tunnel. Walking through the quarter-mile-long tunnel takes you to Goldmine Loop, Forney Creek (great trout fishing), Lakeshore Trail and other connecting trails. About a half-mile before the tunnel at the end of the road, you’ll find great hiking and trout fishing on the Noland Creek Trail. It provides an overlook of Fontana Lake and access to a number of hiking trails. Lakeview Drive is a beautiful drive or strenuous bike ride – particularly in the Fall. On the map, it is called Lakeview Drive, but to the citizens of Swain County it is “The Road to Nowhere - A Broken Promise.” But should that happen, there is always The Road to Nowhere, a scenic mountain highway that takes you six miles into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and ends at the mouth of a tunnel. What To Know Before You Go GPS Coordinates: (35.459063, -83.With so much to see and do in the Bryson City area, it is hard to imagine a day when you might have nowhere to go. Today, you can drive up Lakeview Drive, park your car right before the tunnel, and walk through the tunnel to the other side. In 2010, the federal government agreed to pay Swain County $52 million for the failure of completing the road. Why? According to the federal government, they found environmental issues with rocks leaking acid that made them permanently halt construction of the 30-mile road with only 1/5 of it completed. After driving 6 miles from Bryson City, you'll come to a 1/4 mile tunnel through the mountains. Lakeview Drive was created, and plans were in place were in place for it to connect Bryson City and Fontana, 30 miles away.Ĭonstruction of Lakeview Drive ended abruptly ended in the early '70s, leaving Bryson City residents with a Road To Nowhere. One of the stipulations of the agreement between Swain County and the federal government was that the government would replace the road that was flooded with a new road. Many residents of the area were forced to leave before the area was flooded. ![]() Actually, it's more like a tunnel to nowhere.Īccording to Bryson City's Chamber Of Commerce, in the '30s and '40s, the federal government received a huge tract of land from Swain County for the creation of Fontana Lake and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Road To Nowhere is just that, a road to nowhere.
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