One of Southwest Virginia’s most visited trails will be a little easier to hike thanks to a pilot shuttle program.
Roanoke County officially launched its shuttle service from the park-and-ride off Interstate 81’s exit 140 to the trailhead at McAfee Knob on Virginia 311, something county officials say will help alleviate the yearslong parking issues at the iconic Appalachian Trail location.
There are limited spots in the parking lot at the start of the trail, which often leads to people parking along the roadside or on nearby side streets, especially during the peak usage in the fall and spring.
In addition to quelling the traffic that often overflows to the sides of the narrow, mountainous roads, the $10 shuttle service will make the nearly 8-mile trail more accessible to those without automobiles.
“People who use the Smart Way bus now have easier access to the trail,” said Megan Cronise, the county’s assistant director of planning. “The possibilities are really endless for who can use the service. People can travel here on the train and now have reliable transportation to the trail as well.”
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Bryan Johnson and Lisa Sink are owner-operators of the Ride Source McAfee Knob hiker shuttle — they were the bidders awarded the contract as the result of a procurement process.
The repurposed Caribbean blue 20-passenger school bus that will be used as the shuttle will run from Friday through Sunday starting today until Nov. 27. Service will resume March 3, 2023, and run through Nov. 26, 2023.
The shuttle will depart every 30 minutes from the park-and-ride, following a route to the Catawba Community Center to turn around and then safely deliver passengers to the designated shuttle pull-off near the McAfee Knob Trailhead parking lot, according to the county.
The route is approximately a 15-minute ride to and from the trailhead. The service will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through September, with end times going down to 6:30 p.m. in October and 5 p.m. in November.
The service is all digital, with hikers buying tickets online, on their phone or through a tablet on the bus.
Commonly referred to as the “most photographed” spot on the roughly 2,190-mile trail extending from Georgia to Maine, McAfee Knob saw 50,000 visitors in 2021, according to Cronise.
Catawba District Supervisor Martha Hooker applauded the efforts by multiple organizations and agencies in the state for completing the project.
Among the agencies that advocated for or funded the project are the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, VDOT, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club, the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission, Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge and the Virginia Tourism Corporation, according to the county.
“It truly takes a village to accomplish a project like the McAfee Knob Trailhead Shuttle, and we are grateful for the support and enthusiasm of all of these partners,” Hooker said Thursday morning at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Made possible by an approximately $100,000 grant from the DRPT, the program will be funded through November 2023, according to Cronise, also noting ticket sales will go toward funding the service.
She said while there is no other grant funding at the moment, the county will continue to pursue it as a funding source for the shuttle going forward, hopefully expanding in the future and making it a permanent fixture.
Cronise said how the service might be run in the future depends on how it goes in the fall, with revisions likely for spring 2023.
Additionally, a pedestrian bridge from the trailhead parking lot to the start of the trail is planned for 2024, which will allow hikers to get to the trail without crossing the busy and winding roads.
Diana Christopulos, a member of the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club, said she and her nearly 300 cohorts who take care of approximately 120 miles of trail in the region are thrilled with the new shuttle service.
“If you drive up there in July you won’t see many cars,” she said. “But starting in the fall and in the spring, 600 to 1,100 people go up there and parking gets overflowed … it’s dangerous for everyone.
“We [volunteers] have wanted this for a while. That way on weekends and holidays we can smooth things out.”
For more information on the new shuttle service, visit www.mcafeeshuttle.com.
