WorldWide Drilling Resource

Tunnels Represent America the Beautiful Compiled by Amy White, Associate Editor, WorldWide Drilling Resource ® The Blue Ridge Parkway is a leisurely-paced, relaxing experience nicknamed “America’s Favorite Drive”. The parkway meanders for 469 miles through the Appalachian Highlands, offering opportunities to enjoy stunning long-range vistas, pastoral landscapes, along with everything else that makes this part of the country so special, including 25 constructed tunnels through the state of North Carolina which were recently honored by the U.S. Mint. in the America the Beautiful quarter series. Gary Johnson, retired chief landscape architect for the parkway, describes driving through the tunnels as a “cinematic experience”. Their darkness evokes a sense of “What are we going to see next?” The transition from the tunnels’ darkness to the light of beautiful views creates a great deal of suspense, especially for children. From the beginning, suspense-building was part of the plan. The Blue Ridge Parkway was meant be more than a means to get from here to there, and tunnels, though constructed and positioned out of neces- sity, were planned to be a natural part of the driving experience created by landscape architects and engineers. Drilling tunnels through the mountains also proved to be the best option for nestling a road into North Carolina’s complex geography. Each tunnel has the same design: five-foot sidewalls running to the bottom of an arched roof with a semicircular curve on the top. Many of the tunnels were made during the 1940s and 1950s using truck-mounted drilling platforms with water-cooled drill attachments. Holes were drilled into rock, and workers placed dynamite into the holes, advancing about ten feet per day with this method. Given the technology used at the time, the tunnels have remained in good shape. The new Blue Ridge Parkway quarter featuring a symbolic tunnel was recently unveiled as the 28th coin in the America the Beautiful collection by the U.S. Mint. Artist Frank Morris of Memphis, Tennessee, was chosen to create the parkway design. “As an artist, I appreciate the skill that went into creating the stone tunnels... I felt connected to them - the intelligent design, the experience of it all,” said Morris. Gary Johnson was thrilled to see the new quarter. “The tunnels - they’re such an iconic view of the parkway, and since this is a North Carolina coin, I think it’s ap- propriate. There are so many beautiful views. It’s a classic image of parkway with stone work, and to me, it was the perfect choice.” Editor’s Note: In between our print is- sues, the WWDR Team prepares an elec- tronic newsletter called E-News Flash . Based on readership, this was the most popular E-News Flash article of the month. Get in on the action and subscribe today at: www.worldwidedrillingresource.com Double tunnel on the Blue Ridge Parkway. & ! $ # & # " ! $ # & # & " & ! " & " $ # & & ! & " & & "! " ! & " " ! ! ! !% $ # "! ! 53 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® OCTOBER 2015