A group of Swain County residents fed up with the long-standing road debate met in 2000 at the house of Clyde Douthit in Bryson City.

Their premise: like it or not, the road will never be built. Convincing Congress to fork over hundreds of millions to build the road is simply a long shot.

And even if the money materialized, environmental groups have pledged to block the road with federal lawsuits. The lawsuits would tie up the road in court for years, if not decades, by which point any funds that were once appropriated would be spent on other things. Supporters of the road would be back to square one in terms of having to lobby Congress for money.

Instead, the group decided to devise a “substitute performance” that the federal government could offer the residents of Swain County in lieu of the road and thereby fulfill their obligation under the 1943 agreement.

“What is the best alternative? Do we continue to wait for a road that will probably never be constructed? Or do we look to the future and settle the road issue for Swain County?” Douthit asked.

Forget the road, they said. Give us money instead and we’ll call it even.

They group calls itself the Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County and now actively supports the cash settlement. They eventually convinced a majority of Swain County’s elected leaders to support a $52 million payment in lieu of the road.

If the money was invested, it could generate up to $3 million a year in interest that could be spent on county initiatives. The possibilities are endless. The county could build a cultural heritage center, afford the best school teachers in the state, offer top incentives to new businesses, reduce property taxes to the lowest in the state, give college scholarships to local graduates — or all of the above.

“The $52 million would do the citizens of Swain County so much more good,” said Douthit.

Environmentalists also have adopted the plan, donning yellow stickers bearing the cash settlement slogan — “Settle Up” — every time they attend rallies or meetings on the road.

“This isn’t a fight against something any longer. It’s really exciting to be for something,” Natalie Foster with the Sierra Club told a group of environmentalists assembled in Bryson City last week for a solidarity hike in the park.