The Gatlinburg Bypass (also known as Parkway Bypass or U.S. 441 Bypass) is a
bypass of the
resort city
A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding ...
of
Gatlinburg in
Sevier County, Tennessee
Sevier County ( ) is a county of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 98,380. Its county seat and largest city is Sevierville. Sevier County comprises the Sevierville, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which i ...
. The route is owned and maintained by the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...
and is considered part of the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, w ...
.
Route description
The Gatlinburg Bypass begins at an
intersection with
U.S. 441 (
Newfound Gap Road
Newfound Gap (el. ) is a mountain pass located near the center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States of America. Situated along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the state l ...
) within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park southwest of
Gatlinburg. It travels generally northward for about half of its route before turning to the northeast and ending at an interchange with
U.S. 321/441 (
Great Smoky Mountains Parkway
The Great Smoky Mountains Parkway is a highway that travels between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Interstate 40 in Kodak, Tennessee, in East Tennessee. It serves as the main thoroughfare for Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Seviervil ...
) just north of town.
[
After splitting with U.S. 441, the bypass almost immediately crosses over the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River. The road then begins to climb in ]elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum ยง Ver ...
as it traverses Cove Mountain overlooking Gatlinburg from the west. It crosses over (but does not intersect) Ski Mountain Road, before winding its way over to its only mid-route intersection at Campbell Lead Road, which is accessed via a short two-way access road
A frontage road (also known as an access road, outer road, service road, feeder road, or parallel road) is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private drivew ...
. After the intersection, the parkway begins to descend the mountain and again crosses the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River, before ending at a second interchange with U.S. 321/441.[
Northbound traffic leaving the bypass can go either direction on "Parkway" (as Great Smoky Mountains Parkway is called locally for brevity): continuing north along the river (the Foothills Parkway "spur" to ]Pigeon Forge
Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 6,343. Situated just 5 miles (8 km) north of Great Smoky Mountains National Pa ...
, also maintained by the NPS), or south into downtown Gatlinburg. Conversely, due to very limited space for an overpass and two lanes of heavy traffic that would have to be crossed without one, traffic from the north end of town cannot access the bypass to go southbound to avoid the almost constant congestion through downtown. At the south end, southbound traffic on either road can reverse direction to return north on the other.
History
Junctions list
See also
* Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenan ...
* Cherohala Skyway
The Cherohala Skyway is a National Scenic Byway and National Forest Scenic Byway that connects Tellico Plains, Tennessee to Robbinsville, North Carolina in the southeastern United States. Its name is a portmanteau of Cherokee and Nantahala, ...
* Foothills Parkway
* Lakeview Drive
* Natchez Trace Parkway
* Ocoee Scenic Byway
The Ocoee Scenic Byway is a National Forest Scenic Byway and Tennessee Scenic Byway that traverses through the Cherokee National Forest, in East Tennessee. It is part of both U.S. Route 64 and U.S. Route 74, and features the Ocoee Whitewater C ...
References
External links
*
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
{{authority control
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Transportation in Sevier County, Tennessee
Protected areas of Sevier County, Tennessee
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Roads in Tennessee
National Park Service areas in Tennessee
Bypasses in the United States