Heads up to all who venture into the lush landscapes of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park this June: road maintenance is on the horizon, with some temporary inconveniences. The National Park Service (NPS) has announced a series of partial closures to spruce up some of the park's most traveled roads. This means visitors might need to rethink their routes and allow for some extra travel time.
On the June 3 and 4 docket, the park is shutting down Little River Road from Townsend Wye to Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area between 7 AM and noon. A detour between Townsend and Line Springs Road will be available via Wears Valley Road (US 321). Come June 5, get ready for Metcalf Bottoms to Elkmont Junction to follow suit, closing during the same morning times, with an alternate path running through Wears Valley Road between Line Springs Road and Pigeon Forge. For the drivers of larger-than-life vehicles, remember this: motor homes, buses, and vans over 25 feet long, as well as anyone with a trailer tagging along, ought to steer clear of Wear Cove Gap Road from the park boundary to the Metcalf Bottoms bridge.
While Little River Road gets its facelift, Spur isn't getting left behind. Expect single-lane closures along its north and southbound lanes from June 9 to 12, from the onset of morning twilight at 7 AM until the afternoon stretches its legs at 4:30 PM. These disruptions pave the way for essential upkeep, the likes of roadside mowing and pruning, cleaning of ditches and culverts, repairs to those sudden shoulder drop-offs, and the all-important task of hazard tree mitigation.
Last year, the NPS initiated these temporary partial closures on Little River Road, a move that bore fruit. With less than a total of 10 shut-eye hours, crews were able to knock out an impressive checklist of tasks. They managed to "Mowed and string trimmed 24 miles along roadsides, pulled and cleaned 8.5 miles of roadside ditches, repaired 27 damaged road shoulder areas, and siped 12 miles of roadside banks," according to what park staff revealed.
