Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Popular N.C. motorcycle route losing cross-county emergency medical service

Some rural communities have turned to adventure tourism to boost their economies, but one downside is caring for the visitors when something goes wrong. Latest example: Officials in Graham County, North Carolina, announced last week that they will end their long-standing agreement with adjoining Swain County to send ambulances to wrecks on US 129, the famous "Trail of the Dragon" motorcycle route, Jon Ostendorff of the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

It can take an ambulance as long as 50 minutes to get to the trail from the Swain County seat of Bryson City, but only 22 minutes from Robbinsville in Graham, Ostendorff reports. The trail begins in Blount County, Tennessee, and leads motorcyclists through 318 curves in 11 miles. At least two people a year die on the North Carolina section, Ostendorff writes, but troopers responded to only four wrecks in Swain last year compared to 20 in Graham.

Graham officials say the calls to the area cost them about $100,000 a year, and want Swain to contribute more money to fund the service. Swain offered to house Graham inmates at a discounted rate in exchange for continuing the ambulance service, but Graham refused. “If you don't have a whole lot of inmates, you are really not getting much out of it,” Graham County manager Lynn Cody told Ostendorff. One proposal would redraw county lines to put the area in Graham, but Swain County Manager Kevin King has said the county would be better buying another ambulance to serve the area than givingup the 19,000 acres, which contribute $195,000 a year in property taxes. (Read more)

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