This Land, Your Land

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will make improvements next spring and summer to 56 miles of park roads, a day use area and a popular trailhead parking area, according to the Associated Press.

According to the Knoxville News, the $44 million worth of projects and the closings required by them are as follows:

- Clingmans Dome Road will be rapaved and closed from February 15 to May 28, then intermittently opened until June 18.

- Cades Cove Road will be repaved and closed from March 1 to May 21. The Cades Cove campground, picnic area, store and horse stables will remain accessible. (See our previous post.)

- The Roaring Fork motor trail near Gatlinburg will be closed from February 1 to May 28.

The newspaper also says the Sinks swimming area and Meigs Creek trailhead areas will be expanded between November and late May.

Money for the work comes from economic stimulus money and previously authorized Federal Lands Highway Program support.

Work is also planned next spring and summer on the Foothills Parkway in Blount County, Tenn., and on Newfound Gap Road between Gatlinburg and Cherokee, N.C.