Date: September 23, 2008
Contact: Bob Miller, (865) 436-1207
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson has announced that the next phase of construction of the Foothills Parkway "Missing Link" in Blount County, Tenn., will begin on Monday, September 22. Over the next eight months a Kentucky contractor will construct 1,200 feet of new roadway which will run westward from the end of the partly-finished Parkway segment off U.S. 321 in Wears Valley.
The work will be performed by Hinkle Construction Corporation, Inc. of Lexington, KY under a $3,783,268 contract with the Federal Highway Administration. The contract calls for construction of a reinforced earth section of fill across a shallow ravine. Additional work includes repairing damage to an overpass that carries the partly-completed Parkway over Happy Valley Road so that it can support heavy construction equipment.
In the interest of visitor safety, the unopened section of the Parkway off Wears Valley Road will be closed to all visitors use including hiking, cycling and horse-back riding during construction activities, effective Monday. The nine mile-long section of partly-finished Parkway from U.S. 321 in Walland to the "Missing Link" remains open to those non-motorized recreational uses.
Construction on the 16.1 mile section of the Parkway that will eventually run from Wears Valley to Walland began in the 1970’s when seven miles were partly-completed before funding ran out. Work resumed in the mid-80’s with one project extending east from the Walland end and another project building westward from Wears Valley. Those two jobs were halted in the early 1990’s after encountering numerous slides and erosion problems, leaving a 1.6 mile "Missing Link" uncompleted.
Between 1998 and 2008 a series of three bridges which span a total of 1,675 feet were completed on the Walland end of the "Missing Link". Park and Federal Highway Administration officials expect to award a contract in the fall of 2009 to construct another 1,800 feet of Parkway to extend east from the three new bridges on the Walland end of the "Missing Link".
