The sad story behind the dead-end tunnel at the end of ‘Road to Nowhere’ in North Carolina
Visitors to the Bryson City area are going out of their way to see Lakeview Drive, better known “The Road to Nowhere — A Broken Promise.”
For vacationers hoping to make a trip to to the great outdoors this summer, the Bryson City area in North Carolina has a lot going for it.
There are scenic mountain trails, the beautiful Fontana Lake and an endless parade of jaw-dropping views. But for many visitors, ‘The Road to Nowhere’ is the big attraction.
Officially known as Lakeview Drive, local residents have given it the slightly longer name: ‘The Road to Nowhere - A Broken Promise’. The creepy moniker comes from a long-standing dispute between Swain County locals and the US Department of Interior, that culminated in a $52 million settlement back in 2010.
The mysterious road dates back to the 1930s when the federal government bought up huge swathes of private land to create Fontana Lake, a reservoir for the Fontana Dam. The dam was built to produce electricity for nearby aluminium factories during World War II but the project forced residents out of the area.
One of the conditions of the deal was that a road be built along Fontana Lake, allowing the displaced locals to visit the burial site of relatives in their former land. Lakeview Drive was supposed to be that road, connecting Bryson City with Fontana, but environmental issues stopped the project halfway through, meaning that the road ends with a tunnel roughly six miles into the national park.
The road was deemed too expensive to finish and so it remains in that state, coming to an abrupt halt with the aimless tunnel. Truly, a ‘Road to Nowhere’.
The residents did at least get some for of compensation with a 2010 lawsuit against the Department of the Interior. The government agreed to pay Swain County $52 million in lieu of the promised road and the last payment was made in 2018.
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