Visitation to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in January 2002 totaled 287,353, a 4-percent decline over January 2001.

Park officials attribute the drop to road construction on Newfound Gap Road. During the first month of the year, all but one of the main entrances were below 2001 figures.

The Townsend entrance saw a 12-percent increase, while Cherokee recorded a 4-percent decrease and in Gatlinburg entries were slightly under 2001 numbers.

The outlying areas, a combination of lesser-used areas in North Carolina and Tennessee, were down 4 percent also.

The Newfound Gap Road was closed on the Tennessee side for about two weeks — Jan. 3-18 — for construction on the tunnel rehabilitation project. After Jan. 18, traffic through the tunnels was limited to a single lane creating delays, especially on weekends.