Road work underway in the Smokies
A pavement preservation project is underway on Little River Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, expected to result in weekday, single-lane closures and traffic delays there for much of the year.
Work will continue through June 14 and resume again from Aug. 19 to Sept. 20, with single-lane closures permitted from 7 a.m. Mondays through noon on Fridays. Flaggers will be present, and parking areas and pull-offs will be closed intermittently in the area. No lane closures will be allowed during peak summer months, weekends or holidays, including the weeks surrounding Easter, April 12 to 26.
The work includes a thin pavement overlay applied to the entire 16.5-mile roadway from Sugarlands Visitor Center to the Townsend Wye, along with associated pull-offs, parking lots and the 1.5-mile Elkmont Road. The project is funded through $6.5 million the Federal Highway Administration awarded to GC Works, Inc.
The park is also overseeing tree removal work along various roadways in the park, including Little River Road between Sugarlands Visitor Center and Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area, Elkmont Road, Cherokee Orchard Road, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail and the Gatlinburg Bypass. Motorists should expect delays due to single-lane closures associated with this work through April.
Road closure information is updated at www.nps.gov/grsm and SmokiesRoadsNPS on Twitter.
