Some call it the most beautiful ride in America. The Skyline Drive is 105 miles long.

The gateway to the scenic ride is Front Royal, a town that thrives on the tourists who pass through, heading to the Skyline Drive. Front Royal tourism coordinator Jennifer Keck says hundreds of thousands of people make the journey each year.

"We see between 400,000 and 500,000 visitors annually that come in and use this northern gateway," says Keck. "They're potential visitors to Front Royal to see all the great things we have to offer and to stop, spend the night, have lunch, dinner, that kind of thing."

"I just can't imagine how we'd ever survive without all those people coming through and spending money in our town," says Front Royal resident Don Lafever.

Lafever says, when he came to the town in 1997, most of the stores on Main Street were empty, but times have changed.

"They started opening one by one and people started realizing this is as picturesque a Main Street as you'll find anywhere in this country," says Lafever. "It's a good place to open business because that's what people are looking for nowadays."

Lafever says Front Royal and Skyline Drive are joined at the hip.

"It's one of the neatest towns in the entire universe," says Lafever. "People come here and tell us how great this little town is and I tell them, 'I know, I'm here.'"

However, those hundreds of thousands of visitors are starting to take a toll. Several parts of the drive are now overdue for repairs.

"The life span of the pavement, we've reached that life span," says Karen Beck-Herzog, the public affairs officer for the Shenandoah National Park.

She points out that the South River Picnic Area in Rockingham County has become a patchwork of pavement and potholes, but incoming federal stimulus funds will change that.

"All of this is going to get replaced," says Beck-Herzog. "Visitors are going to see a much smoother ride coming into the picnic area."

Federal funds are helping more than just picnic areas. More than $9 million are being spent to preserve scenic overlooks along the drive. Although many of the overlooks appear fine on the surface, there are underlying issues.

"The foundation underneath those overlooks are not failing at this point, but they're in poor condition," says Beck-Herzog.

Many residents feel the stimulus money is well-spent, including Dr. David Rossi from Penn Laird. He comes to Skyline Drive a few times a month to get away from stress.

"I just drive right in and do my hike," says Rossi. "Then I can go back to my hectic life."

Skyline Drive ends in Augusta County with the beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a 469-mile peaceful passageway between Shenandoah National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The view from park officials is sunny concerning the Blue Ridge Parkway. Summer visits were up last year despite $4-a-gallon gas, and they expect a repeat.

"This year gas prices are down," says Ranger Randall Sutton. "Watching the weather and things, we think the visitation will even increase again."

Even money is not a problem this summer. There is enough to fully staff attractions like the Humpback Rocks Visitor Center and Mountain Farm.

The Blue Ridge Parkway and its attractions were built decades ago as part of a federal stimulus program. Now the parkway is in for another shot of federal stimulus money.

The federal government will spend millions repairing trails and the infrastructure that serves park visitors. Most of the work will happen invisibly and drivers should not expect many traffic delays.