Which scenic highway in the United States connects Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks?

The scenic highway connecting Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks is the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The parkway runs 469 miles through Virginia and North Carolina, following the spine of the Blue Ridge, part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its northern end meets Skyline Drive at Rockfish Gap near Shenandoah National Park, while its southern end reaches U.S. Route 441 near Oconaluftee in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The project began during Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration as a New Deal-era public-works undertaking. Construction started near Cumberland Knob in North Carolina in 1935, and Congress formally designated the route the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1936. Most of the route was complete by 1966, but the difficult Linn Cove Viaduct section around Grandfather Mountain did not open until 1987.

A frequent confusion is Skyline Drive: it is the separate scenic road inside Shenandoah National Park that connects to the parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway itself is managed by the National Park Service and is known for overlooks, hiking access, mountain scenery, and a low-speed, two-lane design rather than fast through traffic.