Bridges are an important part of the Blue Ridge Parkway’s design concept. There are 176 bridges on the parkway: 10% of all the road bridges in the National Park Service. Bridges are the largest structures on the parkway and have to be functional in addition to visually appropriate.
Here the beautiful roadway seems to vanish in the mist. From an article on the LCV:
The Linn Cove Viaduct is the most famous bridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Design began on the Linn Cove Viaduct in the late 1970s. The challenge was to complete the final section of the parkway around the natural environment of Grandfather Mountain without damaging it. This famous bridge is 1,234 feet long and was completed without a single structural problem. There was not one crack in any of the pre-cast concrete segments.
The Linn Cove Viaduct was completed in 1982 and then work began on curbing and grading the roadway around it. The viaduct was opened to the public in 1987 completing the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway.
