Great Smoky Mountains Parkway

Great Smoky Mountains Parkway
Route information
Maintained by TDOT & NPS/FHWA
Length: 23.4 mi[1] (37.7 km)
Component
highways:
Major junctions
South end: US 441 in Gatlinburg
 
North end: I-40 in Kodak
Highway system

The Great Smoky Mountains Parkway travels 14.5 miles (23.3 km) between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Sevierville, along U.S. route 441 and state route 448, in east Tennessee. It serves both, as the main thoroughfare for Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, and a 4.3-mile (6.9 km) spur of the Foothills Parkway.

Route description

The road is simply called "Parkway" in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, where most of the commercial land development has occurred in those two cities. Both have numbered each traffic light sequentially to make it easier for non-locals to find their hotels and other tourist attractions. Sevierville has its traffic lights numbered in miles and tenths, according to the mileage from the national park boundary.[2]

Between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, the parkway becomes part of the Foothills Parkway as its spur route, although that roadway has yet to be built in the area (the right of way for it already includes land for a small interchange adjacent to the southern end of the Pigeon Forge city limit). This 4.3-mile (6.9 km) segment, on a narrow strip of National Park Service (NPS) land, is a four-lane divided highway which runs along both banks of the northward-flowing Little Pigeon River. Where the river briefly diverts to the west and back east again, the southbound roadway on the west bank also curves around, while the northbound lanes go through a tunnel. The Gatlinburg visitor center is located just before entering the town from the north. The Gatlinburg Bypass, part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, connects with the parkway to provide a direct access to the National Park. All of these parkways are operated as part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (unlike other separate national parkways), with support for design and road construction (including repaving) from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) through the Public Lands Transportation Program (PLTP) as in other national parks.

In Sevierville, the Parkway has an east branch and a west branch, as well as a spur in both directions along U.S. 411.[2] Between U.S. 411 and Tennessee 66, the road is known as "North Parkway".

Christmas displays

Within the towns, the road is decorated with Christmas lights all winter. As a six-lane divided highway through Pigeon Forge, very tall multi-fixture street lights in the median are decorated with white LED snowflakes that "fall" down the poles. In Gatlinburg, white LED deciduous trees sprout from the lampposts, in addition to other displays, such as the large one that stretches across the road at the town's northern entrance. In Sevierville, the traditional and much brighter snowflake light sculptures are still in use.

Junctions list

The entire route is in Sevier County.

Locationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
Great Smoky Mountains National Park0.00.0 US 441 (Newfound Gap Road) – CherokeeContinuation as Newfound Gap Road
Gatlinburg1.01.6 US 321 north (SR 73 / East Parkway) – NewportNorth end of US 321 overlap
2.13.4Gatlinburg Bypass – Great Smoky Mountains National ParkNo northbound exit
​5.58.9 –  Foothills Parkway (unconstructed sections) future interchange
Pigeon Forge7.111.4 SR 449 north (Dollywood Parkway) – Dollywood
9.315.0 US 321 south (SR 73 / Wears Valley Road) – TownsendSouth end of US 321 overlap
Sevierville13.421.6 US 441 north (SR 71 / Forks of the River Parkway)North end of US 441 and south end of SR 448 overlap
13.922.4 US 411 north (SR 35 / Main Street) – Newport, Knoxville
14.523.3 SR 66 (Winfield Dunn Parkway)Northern terminus of SR 448; Southern end of SR 66 overlap
SR 338 north (Douglas Dam Road) – Douglas DamNorthern end of SR 338 overlap
SR 338 south (Boyds Creek Highway) – Boyds CreekSouthern end of SR 338 overlap
Sevierville–Kodak line SR 139 (Douglas Dam Road) – Dandridge, Kodak
23.437.7 I-40 – Knoxville, BristolNorthern end of the Great Smoky Mountains Parkway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Google (November 26, 2014). "Great Smoky Mountains Parkway" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  2. 1 2 Smoky Mountain Parkway Traffic Signals (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Cartography by Engineer's Office. City of Sevierville, Tennessee. Retrieved September 30, 2012.


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