Construction in 1938 of Crater Lake Rim Road switchback along Applegate Peak (at left) in Oregon. Men in foreground are installing a culvert.
Preliminary surveys were started in January 1931 with only 5 months to make surveys, prepare plans, and award contracts for approximately 40 miles of highway. The initial construction work was let under two contracts, a 20-mile section from Thornton Gap to Big Meadows and a 20-mile section from the Rapidan River via Big Meadows to Swift Run Gap. Both contracts were awarded in the latter part of June 1931.
The Skyline Drive was constructed in three major sections. Part of the first section between Thornton Gap and Swift Run Gap was surfaced by the summer of 1934. Because of the public clamor to use the park road, it was decided to open the Drive on September 15, 1934, between Thornton Gap and Big Meadows. But it soon became impossible to keep tourists off the section from Big Meadows to Swift Run Gap and work was delayed. The surfacing on this part was completed in 1935.
The northern section between Thornton Gap and Front Royal was placed under contract in 1934, and the final surfacing was completed in time for the dedication of the Park by President Roosevelt in July 1936. The final section of Skyline Drive between Swift Run Gap and Jarman Gap was constructed between 1936 and 1939.[1]
It has been estimated that the grading and base course operations, covering the years 1931 through 1938, provided approximately 2.1 million man-hours of employment and the total construction cost was approximately $4 million.
Although begun hurriedly during the Depression to stimulate employment, the blend of this park road into the mountain landscape, providing the most scenic views of the panorama of the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the plains of Virginia, was no accident. It was the joint effort of the National Park Service landscape architects and the Bureau’s highway engineers in carrying out the policy on park roads announced in 1924.
A Master Plan for the National Park System
Very early the National Park Service had evolved a general development plan or master plan as a guide for the development of each park area in the national park system. The road system plan was an integral part of the overall master park plan and was developed through collaboration of Bureau engineers working closely with the landscape architects and engineers in the National Park Service. It was customary for the road system plan to be approved both by the Director of the National Park Service and the Commissioner of the Bureau of Public Roads. The road system plan provided a means for identifying roadway needs and improvements and allowed for phase construction of park roads and trails.
During the 1940’s, much work was accomplished on the development of the road system plans while the construction program was at a low ebb. However, even though there was a scarcity of materials because of the urgency of the housing program, the mileage on the national park system increased from 1,577 to 1,979 miles.[2]
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- ↑ B. Smith, The Story of the Skyline Drive, The Virginia Road Builder, Vol. I, No. 4, Nov. 1945, pp. 11, 12 ; Vol. I, No. 5, Jan. 1946, pp. 6–8; Vol. I, No. 6, Mar. 1946, pp. 8, 9; Vol. II, No. 1, May–Jun. 1946, pp. 8, 9; Vol. II, No. 2, Jul.–Aug. 1946, pp. 8–11 ; Vol. II, No. 3, Sept.–Oct. 1946, pp. 10, 11.
- ↑ Bureau of Public Roads Annual Report, 1949, p. 105.
