Spring road maintenance planned in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Lee Ann Ratledge photo
The National Park Service will complete important maintenance along popular roads in Great Smoky Mountains National Park this June. This will require temporary partial closures of Little River Road and single-lane closures along the Spur to allow park staff to safely and efficiently complete this work.
Little River Road closures:
• On June 4, the park will close Townsend Wye to Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area from 7 a.m. to noon. Visitors can use Wears Valley Road (US 321) between Townsend and Line Springs Road as a detour.
• On June 5, the park will close Metcalf Bottoms to Elkmont Junction from 7 a.m. to noon. Visitors can use Wears Valley Road between Line Springs Road and Pigeon Forge as a detour.
Motor homes, buses and vans longer than 25 feet, as well as any passenger vehicles towing a trailer, are prohibited on Wear Cove Gap Road from the park boundary to and including the Metcalf Bottoms bridge.
Popular sites including Elkmont, Metcalf Bottoms and Cades Cove will remain accessible during this closure but may require detours. Visitors should plan for increased travel time.
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Spur single-lane closures:
• From June 9-12, the park will implement temporary single-lane closures along the north and southbound Spur from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Visitor may see some traffic delays.
During this time, crews will complete needed roadside work including mowing and pruning, ditch and culvert cleaning, shoulder drop off repair and hazard tree mitigation.
Last year, the park implemented temporary partial closures of Little River Road for the first time to complete deferred road maintenance. During these short closures (totaling less than 10 hours), park staff completed the following work:
• Mowed and string trimmed 24 miles along roadsides.
• Pulled and cleaned 8.5 miles of roadside ditches.
• Repaired 27 damaged road shoulder areas.
• Side armed 12 miles of roadside banks.
