Some portions of the trail follow old NC 288, where hikers may see abandoned automobiles from 1920's-1930's and a bridge at Lands Creek during the winter months, when lake levels are low.

On July 30, 1943, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the state of North Carolina, Swain County, and the Department of the Interior (DOI) entered into an agreement that called for: In 1944, Fontana Dam was completed and Fontana Lake was formed; also by this time, the TVA had fulfilled all its obligations under the agreement.

Without the road, starting in the late 1970s, the NPS began providing transportation to families to visit cemeteries to which access was cut off.

In 2001 North Carolina Representative Charles H. Taylor inserted $16 million into the Federal Highway Administration appropriation to resume work on the road.

The environmental impact statement resulted in a NPS record of decision on December 28, 2007, that payment of a monetary settlement to Swain County, in lieu of further construction, was the alternative that would best protect the resources of the park.

[9][10][11] In Fall 2023, all of Lakeview Drive was closed to the public as the road was reconstructed, funded by the Great American Outdoors Act.