Hiking Trails Blogs

WATE News in Knoxville published an updated schedule for the repair work on the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Spur road. The southbound lanes of the Spur were closed after a rock slide on Jan. 25, forcing traffic to be detoured into a northbound lane until the southbound roadway was reopened yesterday. All lanes are now temporarily reopened.

Work on the connector between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg (U.S. 441 in Sevier County) was completed two weeks early, allowing the opening yesterday.

Emergency contractor Charles Blalock and Sons Inc. is working off-site pouring concrete panels to form a stained rock faced to cover the recently constructed retaining wall, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

The retaining wall was built to stabilize the rocks above the roadway in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The rock facade is expected to be installed during the week of March 15, when one southbound lane will close to allow crews to begin a second phase of rock slide repairs.

That phase includes repaving and restriping the roadway. Once that work begins, the contractor will keep two lanes of traffic open in each direction, beginning at 6 a.m. on Fridays through 12:01 a.m. Mondays

The entire project is scheduled to be finished on or before April 30.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.