The Federal Highway Administration has awarded a $7.4 million contract to Charles E. Blalock and Sons, Inc. to perform extensive repairs and safety-related improvements on two tunnels that carry Newfound Gap Road across Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Under the contract, work will be done this winter to raise the overhead clearance in the two 60-year-old tunnels to allow for the safe passage of today’s larger vehicles and to replace the crumbling concrete linings.

Some preparatory work that will not affect traffic may begin in October 2001, but the activities that will be the most disruptive to traffic will occur during the slowest visitation period between Thanksgiving and March 15, 2002. Between Nov. 26 and Jan. 31, 2002, the road will be closed to all traffic for two periods totaling 42 days, but work will be halted from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2 to accomodate heavy holiday travel.

During the fall closure periods, Newfound Gap Road will be open, weather permitting, for 16 miles north of the park’s Cherokee entrance to the Newfound Gap Parking Area where motorists will have to turn around and exit through Cherokee. On the Tennessee side, the road will be closed 2 miles south of Gatlinburg near Sugarlands Visitors Center. The only access to the Park’s high-elevation overlooks, trailheads and the Appalachian Trail will be via the Cherokee entrance. Park managers emphasized that access to other popular visitor destinations on the Tennessee side of the park, including Little River Road and Cades Cove, will not be affected.

Park Superintendent Mike Tollefson also stressed that during the road closure period Newfound Gap will also be closed to hiker and cyclist use.

“For safety reasons we don’t want to take a chance on having trucks and heavy construction equipment unexpectedly come upon pedestrians or cyclists who assume that they have the road to themselves,” Tollefson said. “And, since the contractor’s schedule is based upon them working multiple shifts, seven days a week, there could be construction vehicles coming and going at any hour of the day or night.”

Following the full-closure period the road will reopen, but traffic through the tunnels will be restricted to one lane carrying alternating north-bound and south-bound vehicles controlled by traffic lights from about Feb. 1 through March 15, 2002. Park managers expect that during this one-lane restriction period delays could be significant particularly on busy weekends and in periods of bad winter weather. As in normal years, access to Newfound Gap Road may be closed or limited to 4-wheel drive or chain-equipped vehicles based upon prevailing weather conditions.

Due to the narrowing of lanes and reduced overhead clearance, buses and RVs will be prohibited from using the road during the entire Nov. 26 through March 15 period, including the Christmas holiday work suspension period.

From March 15 through May 18, 2002, and between Aug. 19 through Sept. 27, 2002 the contractor will be authorized to impose one-lane closures controlled by flaggers day or night. However during those two periods no work will be allowed on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays.

“In a busy park like the Smokies,” said Park Superintendant Mike Tollefson, “it is not possible to do construction on a major thoroughfare without any impact on park visitors or the traffic which flows back and forth between our gateway communities. But the park and the Federal Highway Administration have made every effort to schedule the most disruptive phases of work when they would have the least impact on traffic and tourism.”

Tollefson added, “The downside of performing the repairs under this varying combination of temporary closures and lane closures is that it complicates our task of providing motorists with the best possible advice on what they can expect in terms of access to the park and travel delays. We are committed to communicating this road information via the news media, the Internet and variable message signs.
Throughout the construction period we will post the current road status to our park website, www.nps.gov/grsm, and we will have a recorded road information message both on our normal information number 865.436.1200 and on a toll-free number which is still being established.”

 

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The Smoky Mountain News