Quick repair work enabled the entire length of Newfound Gap Road across Great Smoky Mountains National Park to open to traffic Friday afternoon.
Park officials planned to open the entire road by 4 p.m. ET Friday (September 12), 18 days ahead of schedule following an August 1 washout that undercut about 100 feet of pavement just south of the Alum Cave Trailhead on the Tennessee side of the park.
“The successful reopening of Newfound Gap Road ahead of schedule is a testament to the strong partnership between the National Park Service, the Federal Highway Administration, and our local partners,” said Charles Sellars, the park's acting superintendent. “We’re proud to have restored this critical route so quickly, improving access for our visitors and gateway communities.”
The FHWA awarded and managed the contract with Eclipse Companies, LLC. The contractor worked nearly 24 hours per day to complete this project, according to park staff.
The project also benefitted from strong support from local leaders and congressional representatives including Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Sevier County (the Cities of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville and the Sevier County Government).
To stabilize the area and restore the roadway, crews placed 120 tons of sandbags to temporarily divert the stream and protect the work zone. They removed 144 truckloads of material—approximately 1,750 cubic yards—and delivered 2,000 tons of gravel fill along with 152 boulders (855 tons) to reinforce the slope and build a retaining wall. The retaining wall is made of local stone and was carefully designed to blend with the natural landscape, preserving the scenic character of the area. The contractor finished paving Thursday and was completing striping Friday. Single-lane closures may be in place near the repaired section on September 15 as final work is completed.
Late on August 1, the park responded to reports of a road washout and landslide along Newfound Gap Road between mile markers 12 and 13 on the Tennessee side of the park, just south of the Alum Cave trailhead.
The damage was caused by a stationary storm cell that dropped approximately two inches of rain over a two-hour period. The intense rainfall caused Walker Camp Prong to swell, eroding the roadway and undermining a 125-foot-long section of Newfound Gap Road. Nearly the entire width of the southbound lane was compromised.
On August 2, engineers from the NPS and the FHWA assessed the site and immediately began project scoping. Both agencies worked quickly to complete the necessary design, permitting, and contracting steps to move the project into construction without delay.
Motorists were urged by park staff to drive with extra caution and watch for bears and other wildlife along the road, as animals have been accustomed to no traffic over the past month and may be near the road foraging on this year’s abundant acorn crop.
Visitors will see some construction on both the North Carolina and Tennessee sides of the road. On the North Carolina side, the NPS is rehabilitating a 7-mile stretch of Newfound Gap Road through September 30, requiring some single-lane closures. This work is funded by recreation fee dollars (from parking tags and campgrounds) and the Federal Lands Transportation Program. On the Tennessee side, the NPS is completing a rehabilitation of the first two miles of the road between Gatlinburg and Sugarlands.
Newfound Gap Road is a 31-mile National Scenic Byway through Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The road, with its Civilian Conservation Corps-era features, such as rock walls and guardrails, make the entire corridor eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Originally constructed by the states of Tennessee and North Carolina, the NPS and the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Public Roads redesigned sections of the road to improve safety and provide better access to the park’s sweeping mountain vistas in the 1930’s. Engineers designed the road to blend architectural features in with the existing natural landscape. Today, the road serves as a critical transportation corridor for Great Smoky Mountains National Park visitors and surrounding communities, seeing an average of 5,000 vehicles per day.
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