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Cades Cove loop road to be closed temporarily in 2010
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Cataloochee Valley | Ken Thomas | Wikimedia Commons
The loop road in Cades Cove is one of the most frequently driven roads in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was announced this week that the loop road will be closed in the spring for some much needed reconstruction, smoothing out the pothole riddled drive. Because weather is an influential factor in the reconstruction timeline, the scheduled dates for closure are March 1 through May 21, 2010 with the understanding that the timeline may need to be extended.
A side effect of the road closure will be that visitors will not be able to access any of the trails that originate from the loop road. This includes the popular Abrams Falls trail head about half way around the loop. Hikers should still be able to access Abrams Falls from the Little Bottoms trail at the Abrams Creek Campground. Other trails connecting with Abrams Falls include Hatcher Mountain and Hannah Mountain.
The Cades Cove picnic and camping areas will still remain open, as will the camp store and horseback riding stables. In the past, the horse trail crossed over the loop road so it is possible that the trail will be altered or rerouted.
Take this opportunity to visit other places in the park that are not as frequently seen. Try the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, a one way auto tour through the Smokies with access to views and hiking, beginning in Gatlinburg, TN. Another open area similar to Cades Cove is the Cataloochee Area.
The process of reconstructing the road will be done through Full Depth Reclamation. In short, the road surface will be broken up and mixed with six inches of material underneath. This has been determined to be more environmentally friendly than the alternative: drilling up the asphalt, trucking it out to be reprocessed and hauling it back in for re-use. The Full Depth Reclamation process is also more time and cost efficient.
Alternatives to closing the road completely included using Parson Branch Road or night time construction, neither of which were considered viable options. Parson Branch Road is a primitive road incapable of withstanding the abuse of the large volume of traffic passing through Cades Cove, some 3,000+ vehicles per day. Night time closures are impossible because the newly constructed road needs at least five days to set before it can carry a load or be paved.
Another problem the project will address is wildlife viewing and the use of pull-offs that are eroding the ground on either side of the road. These pull-offs will be paved to allow visitors to get out of the way of moving traffic to view wildlife. It is not uncommon to be traveling along the loop road and come to a stop with dozens of cars in front of (and behind) your vehicle. Frequent visitors of the Cades Cove loop road know this as a “bear jam.”
The loop road will remain a one lane, one way road.
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