Traffic everywhere – SNP update observes leaf-season visitation influx

Shenandoah National Park Superintendent Jennifer Flynn reported on the state of the park – and traffic and traffic mitigation plans – at the Nov. 7 board of supervisors meeting. Photo/Roger Bianchini

Front Royal and Warren County residents venturing out of their neighborhoods the weekend of November 2^nd through the 4^th may have noticed some “slight” traffic congestion on major thoroughfares heading toward and through Front Royal.

The culprit – we didn’t really need to tell you, did we? – was a combination of pleasantly warm, sunny and NOT raining weather, coupled with a rather late peak fall leaf-changing season in Shenandoah National Park (SNP).

The result according to Shenandoah National Park Superintendent Jennifer Flynn in a November 7 report to the Warren County Board of Supervisors was 6,000 cars entering the valued regional tourist attraction at its northern Front Royal entrance on Saturday and Sunday, November 3^rd and 4^th alone.  Those 3,000 cars per weekend day traveling through Warren County and Front Royal to access the national park were part of 17,346 vehicles traveling through park entrance stations those two days.

“Are you sure it was only 6,000?” County Board Chair Tony Carter asked Flynn of the two-day local traffic count.

And for those of us who ventured a trip across town that weekend to try and access South Street food or shopping outlets, it seemed a valid question. – Because it appeared there might be a thousand cars backed up on and across the Route 55 East (John Marshall Highway/South Street) and South Commerce Avenue intersection at any given time.  This intrepid driver gave up on Royal Avenue when the backup was at a standstill two-plus blocks from the East Main Street intersection traffic light.

That traffic equated to 8 to 9 cars per minute checking in at the park’s north entrance off Route 340 South during peak hours, Flynn observed.  The first-weekend-of-November traffic jam was impacted by a perfect storm of circumstances, Flynn noted.

As alluded to above, those factors included an exceptionally late leaf-changing season due to myriad factors from an early-fall continuation of an exceptionally rainy spring and summer; and a beautifully warm, dry and sunny fall weekend to accompany the late peak leaf-turning that led to D.C. Metro area broadcasters trumpeting the first weekend of November as “the optimum time” for a visit west out I-66 to see nature in all its fall glory.

Well, you don’t see that every day at home in Northern Virginia and the D.C. Metro area. Courtesy Photo/Shenandoah National Park

Park Director Flynn addressed this year’s weather’s impact on park visitation in her report to the county government:

“This has been a challenging weather year for Shenandoah and our area.  As you know, it has not stopped raining for months.  Our most recent rainfall measurement at Big Meadows was 81-inches through October.  Our prior record rainfall was 76-inches in 2003 for the entire year; and our records at Big Meadows go back over 30 years,” Flynn said.

And while the wet year has meant fire dangers have been low – boy could California use some of our excess rain!!! – the impact on visitation has been negative.

“We are a weather dependent park as it relates to visitation,” Flynn observed, noting a 14% drop in visitors through September compared to 2017 when a total of 1.46-million visitors were counted for the year.  Well, those 17,346 vehicles checking into Shenandoah National Park with mom, dad and the kids hopefully sparked a late-season comeback in those numbers.

… or that – Courtesy Photo/Shenandoah National Park

And we grin and bear the fall leaf season traffic influx annually – even celebrate its coming with the tourist-welcoming Festival of the Leaves – because all that traffic also means some of those family-bearing cars are going to stop to shop, eat or even sleep locally, beefing up local business and municipal revenues.

“As much as these busy weekends challenge the patience of our neighbors, having a national park as a neighbor is a good thing,” Flynn reminded county leaders, adding, “Every year the National Park Service commissions a study of the economic impact that parks have in their surrounding communities:

a/ In 2017, visitors spent $95.8 million in surrounding communities;

b/ Their spending supported 1200 jobs in the local area; including 300 DNC jobs and 300 park jobs (for those of you wondering as did this reporter, Flynn explained to Royal Examiner that in this case DNC stands for park concessionaire Delaware North Corporation, not the Democratic National Committee).

Flynn lauded Front Royal and Warren County’s past working relationship with Shenandoah National Park.  She pointed to both municipal governments’ participation in region-wide municipal opposition to an effort of the Trump administration to hike park fees to a level that would have made park access less affordable to many mid-to-lower income families for whom national parks have long been an affordable and easily accessible regional mini-vacation destination.

“Warren County has long understood the value of this relationship.  Your county was vocal in the opposition to the proposal for a very large fee increase that could have reduced visitation to the park. A fee increase did go through, but it was only a $5 increase.  I appreciate your commitment to helping protect access to Shenandoah National Park,” Flynn told county officials, adding, “Warren County has been a strong partner for the park in many areas: your county has been a strong advocate for park values; you have valued and protected park view sheds; and you have been proactive about developments like large scale solar by addressing these issues in the comprehensive plan.  We appreciate your partnership and your support in protecting what makes our community so special.”

… or THAT either!!! – Courtesy Photo/Shenandoah National Park

And as if to illustrate that appreciation, Flynn told the county supervisors of plans to upgrade the north entrance to Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive in a way that might help mitigate the seasonal traffic impact.

“We appreciate the close working relationship the Town of Front Royal, the county and the park have in managing the impacts to the community this traffic brings.  This year we are beginning the planning to build a new entrance station at Front Royal and looking for design solutions for the congestion issues will be part of that project,” she said.

Funny how there’s not one car on the Drive in any of these park photographs – do you think they airbrush them out? Courtesy Photos/Shenandoah National Park

Other projects in the works for the coming year include: complete restoration of the public restrooms at Dickey Ridge; completed connector trail to the Front Royal Greenway; construction of public parking at Old Rag in Madison County in 2019; and release of a park app and 3-D imaging of visitors centers.

And while publication of this story is too late to do you any good on this one, Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11 was a fee-free entrance day for Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park.

Of fee-free days in the coming year, Flynn said, “We do not have the national fee free days for 2019 announced yet, but we do have our park-specific fee free day in June.  The 3^rd Saturday is always “park neighbor day” – for 2019 that will be June 15.”

“Write that date down, mom – I wanna get out of town and see what’s going on in the park for FREE the end of next spring!!!”

What IS going on in the park – deer grazing …

Dark Hollow Falls Trail …

And Dreamy Falls, among other wildlife, trails and dreams, so close to home …