Date: April 16, 2007
Contact: Bob Miller, (865) 436-1207

Managers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have advised that temporary weekday lane closures will begin Monday, April 16 on Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441) between Cherokee, NC and Gatlinburg, TN to allow for re-paving of the road. The area being repaved is the five miles of Newfound Gap Road from Collins Creek Picnic Area north towards Newfound Gap.

From April 16 through June 14 no lane closures will be allowed on Fridays from noon to 10:00 p.m. or on Saturdays and Sundays between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Lane closures will be permitted around the clock from 10:00 p.m. each Sunday night until noon on Fridays. When single lane closures are allowed the contractor may close up to four areas at a time but delays at each closure may not exceed 10 minutes at each location.

From June 15 through August 15 no day time lane closures will be allowed but the contractor will be permitted to close lanes at night. On Monday through Thursday nights closures can be imposed from 9:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights closures may occur from 10:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m.

From August 16 through September 30 no lane closures will be allowed on Fridays from noon to 10:00 p.m. or on Saturdays and Sundays between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. During the month of September no lane closures will be allowed on weekends – day or night – due to heavy traffic created by car shows. Lane closures will be permitted around the clock from 8:00 a.m. each Monday morning until noon on Fridays.

Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson said, "When we negotiated this contract we made very effort to avoid impacting visitor enjoyment of the Park and to minimize inconvenience to motorists traveling between our gateway communities. We used this same lane closure schedule last season and found that delays were so minimal that we got virtually no complaints."

The work is being performed under a $15,316,340 contract with APAC-Tennessee, Inc. and is being funded and administered by the Federal Highway Administration’s Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division. Under the terms of the contract, completion of the work is expected in October 2007.