(Story courtesy of WVLT News)
Gatlinburg, TN (WVLT) One week after Newfound Gap Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was close, the park service says the road will stay closed on the Tennessee side until early October. The park service is now looking for a contractor to come in and make the repairs.
“We are working through the design, contracting and permitting processes we expect to where the project contract in August and expect that the project will be completed and the road can reopen in early October,” Katie Liming said.
A rockslide closed the road last week, shutting traffic out on both sides of the state line. The North Carolina side reopened early this week, meaning it’s the only way to get to Kuwohi, previously Clingman’s Dome.
Liming gave a recap of what caused the incident on Newfound Gap Road. “That evening we received more than two inches of rain in two hours and that caused Walker Camp Prong to swell and undermine a section of this road. And so the slide impacted about 125 feet of the roadway and undermined almost the entire southbound lane, so it is it is not safe and and we closed the road,” she said.
It will take months to get the road back open, Liming said. When work does start, she added, the park will also be putting erosion management infrastructure in place, along with a rock wall.
“A major message is you know the park is open, there is a lot to explore,” said Liming.
WVLT News spoke with Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters. He said the news of a park road closure will be a hit to tourism numbers in an area that relies on visitors heavily.
“I think it’ll have a negative impact on our tourism for a little while until they get it open, because a lot of folks come to visit the park and when when they hear that the park is closed and they can’t get in they say, ‘well I’m not sure I’m going to go,’” Waters said.
Waters said that he and other leadership are willing to do whatever they can to ensure that the road is fixed as soon as possible.
