This Land, Your Land

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will close the 11-mile Cades Cove Loop Road from March 1 through May 21, 2010, for repaving, the park announced earlier this week. The one-lane road near Gatlinburg, Tenn., (below) sees 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles a day, and is marred by potholes and other breaks in the pavement.

The project is to cost $4 to $6 million, with the Federal Highway Administration contract containing incentives for early completion as well as penalties for late work. The repaving work is weather sensitive, so the actual closing period could be influenced by the amount of rainfall.

The road will remain a single lane, one-way byway, but the Park does plan to pave a number of informal pull-offs that are already in use, but badly eroded.