A prime time for North Shore debate to end

It’s time to end this debate.With another pro-settlement county board, the election of Swain Count native and pro-settlement congressman Heath Shuler, a new study showing the economic benefits of a cash settlement and an ever-increasing price tag for construction, it’s time once and for all for Western North Carolina’s leaders to take advantage of the moment and demand a cash settlement of at least $52 million in lieu of the construction of the North Shore Road.

The road ends here

If Congressman Charles Taylor is defeated in two weeks, it could spell the end of plans to build a road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park outside Bryson City.

What is the North Shore Road?

The North Shore Road is proposed to go through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from Bryson City to Tennessee along the north shore of Lake Fontana. The area was not always backcountry, however. It was once home to mining and logging towns and farming communities until the construction of Lake Fontana to generate hydropower for the World War II effort.

The lake flooded some communities and isolated others by flooding the only road in and out. With a war on, the government could not afford to build a new road on higher ground. So more than 200 families living in the suddenly isolated region were forced to evacuate. The land was ceded to the park service.

At the time, the government promised to rebuild the road. It signed a legal contract pledging to do so, but hasn’t yet. Families who sacrificed their homes for the war effort believe the government should uphold its promise.

 

What is the cash settlement?

A group of Swain County residents fed up with the long-standing debate developed an idea several years ago for the federal government to pay a cash settlement in lieu of building the road.

Their premise: like it or not, the road will never be built. Congress will never appropriate and the funds, and even if it did, lawsuits by environmental groups would stop it from happening anyway. So they began lobbying for a cash settlement of $52 million for Swain County, an idea that has gained wide popularity.

The $52 million price for a cash settlement is the accumulated interest on the cost of the road. At the time the road was flooded in 1943, the county owed $694,000 for its construction. Even though the road was flooded, the county spent another 30 years paying off the debt on the worthless road. The cash settlement would compensate the county for the loss of the road.

How do you stand on the North Shore Road issue?

Charles Taylor: The federal government should live up to its 60-year-old commitment to Swain County residents and complete the North Shore Road.

Cash: a better deal than a road

There’s more than one way for the federal government to make up its promise to Swain County to rebuild the road it flooded 62 years ago — and that’s a $52 million payoff, an option with broad public support.

This contingency doesn’t oppose the road on environmental grounds necessarily. They just think the money would benefit the county more than a road through the park.

Call of the wild resounds loud and clear

Environmental groups and outdoors lovers packed the public hearing in Bryson City last week to decry the idea of building a road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a national treasure and is part of the shared natural and cultural heritage that belongs to every American,” said Greg Kidd, associate southeast director for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Build the road, honor our sacrifice

Those who want the government to build the road it flooded when Fontana Lake was created say the issue boils down to one premise: a promise is a promise.

“If the government’s word’s not worth the paper it’s wrote on, I don’t know what kind of government we got,” said Robert Jones. “If I signed a contract with them and walked off and left it, where would I be at? I’m getting real fed up with it.”

Smokies: Road to Nowhere won’t impair park

Controversy over proposed changes to the mission of the National Park Service has landed at the doorstep of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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