Displaying items by tag: road closure

A view of the Smokies from the southern section of Foothills Parkway. Thomas Fraser/Hellbender Press

Hellbender told ya so: Big money in hand for southern Foothills Parkway rehab

Hellbender Press reported some particulars months ago, but the National Park Service today announced the official receipt of $30 million dollars for rehabilitation of the southern section of Foothills Parkway between Calderwood and Walland.

It’s been a busy news week out of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, especially related to the Foothills Parkway: Earlier this week the park service announced the latest phase of comment on plans to establish a series of mountain bike trails in Wears Cove at the terminus of that parkway section. Hellbender covered that, too.

Maybe too much Smokies, if that’s a thing, but we felt obligated to report via a park press release the final dispersal of funds for the planned improvements we reported on months ago. Significant traffic closures will likely begin this spring.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Air Resource Specialist is seen at the Look Rock air quality research station.   Courtesy National Park Service

The lack of regional and local vehicle traffic during the pandemic greatly reduced measurable pollution in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This is your Hellbender weekend read, and the first in an occasional Hellbender Press series about the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the natural world

Great Smoky Mountains National Park shut down for six weeks in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recorded emissions reductions during that period in part illustrate the role motor vehicles play in the park's vexing air-quality issues. The full cascade of effects from the pollution reductions are still being studied.

Hellbender Press interviewed park air quality specialist Jim Renfro about the marked reduction of carbon dioxide and other pollutants documented during the park closure during the pandemic, and the special scientific opportunities it presents.  He responded to the following questions via email.

Hellbender Press: You cited “several hundred tons" in pollutant reductions during an interview with WBIR of Knoxville (in 2020). What types of air pollutants does this figure include?