A 7-mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina reopened Sept. 9 from just south of Doughton Park to near Laurel Springs, the National Park Service announced.

The section that reopened is part of a multi-year project to address a maintenance backlog, which was estimated at $450 million before Tropical Storm Helene brought widespread damage to the scenic drive in September 2024. The series of projects is mostly funded through the Great American Outdoors Act — legislation passed by Congress in 2020 to address the extensive maintenance and repair backlog in national parks.

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