All roads in the Great Smoky Mountains national park other than 1 Closed on Tennessee Side

Snow is still falling and it is just too much for the snowplows and sanders in the Great Smoky Mountains national park prompting the national park service to close all but one of the roads in the GSMNP due to snow and ice.

The only road, which has so far eluded closure, is Tremont Road, which is off Laurel Creek Road between the Townsend Wye and the entrance to Cades Cove. The section of Laurel Creek Road past Tremont Road has been already been closed for much of the day limiting all access Cades Cove and Cades Cove Loop Road, Sparks Lane, Hyatt Lane and Forge Creek Road. Rich Mountain Road and Parson Branch Road are both closed for the winter season.

This weekend is the beginning of the Christmas Holiday peak tourist season and with Newfound Gap Road now closed along with both a section of I-40 by border between North Carolina and Tennessee closed and Old State Road 284 between Big Creek and Cataloochee, getting around in the Smoky Mountains is going to be very difficult. As a result, retailers will most likely see sales suffer at a time when they are needed the most.

More often, it is best to stay put in weather conditions such as this. Driving on Smoky Mountain Roads is just better left to emergency vehicles only. Hopefully if you are visiting the Smokies this weekend you have a cabin with provisions so you can hunker down and enjoy the beauty of the Smokies in winter.

Current Road Closures and Openings in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Landslide in Great Smoky Mountains national park cleared but clearing I-40 will take many months.

This has been some leaf season in the Smokies! Multiple rock and landslides within weeks create traffic nightmares for many, but fortunately yesterday's landslide in the Great Smoky Mountains national park took the park and Blalock Construction less than 24 hours to clear but the I-40 landslide only 3 miles from the Tennessee and North Carolina border will take until March 2010 or longer.

This summer we saw 2 rock slides occur along Little River Road which took days to clean up so that the road could be reopened so it was a very pleasant surprise to see how fast the main East West road in the Great Smoky Mountains national park reopened however those who wish to take I-40 from North Carolina will have to wait far longer before they can avoid detours. The real disaster for drivers will be when Newfound Gap Road (US 441) closes due to ice and snow in bad weather which is a very common occurrence.

There was another closure due to at potential landslide this moth along the Blue Ridge Parkway which has also cause drivers to have to deal with lengthy detours right when the fall season colors were at their peak along the parkway.

Related Landslide and Rockslides in the Smokies Stories:

• Rock Slide Closes Great Smoky Mountains National Parks Little River Road
• 2nd Rock Slide in the Great Smoky Mountains national park will keep major road closed far longer
• 12 miles of Blue Ridge Parkway in Mount Pisgah - Asheville Area Closed Due to Landslide Danger

Construction on I-40 will reduce traffic to 1 lane until May.

Westbound drivers on I-40 between the North Carolina Tennessee border and the Waterville Road exit can expect delays until May 2009 while construction of rock wall fencing and catchment areas reduces traffic to a single lane starting Monday.

I- 40 East Bound reopend to traffic in all lanes.

Now that the overturned tractor trailer is cleared all lanes are now open on I-40 and traffic is starting to flow.

More construction for I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge in NC to TN state line

Construction on I-40 will start this spring repaving about 15 miles of the interstate from Fines Creek to the Tennessee - North Carolina border line. Some preliminary work will actually start this month but the major push will have to wait until the warmer weather in the spring of 2008.

Besides repaving the interstate, improved drainage via pavement will be installed and some signs that have seen better days will be replaced. Construction work is expected to close more than 1 lane in each direction and to be completed in June of 2009.

The construction work on I-40 can be a real potential mess for commuters and tourists to the areas as even though roads won't be allowed to close during major holidays, weekends and peak travel times during the 2008 leaf season, since there are virtually no detours drivers can take, the potential for huge bottlenecks and delays are enormous.