Gatlinburg Bypass


The Gatlinburg Bypass is a bypass of the resort city of Gatlinburg in Sevier County, Tennessee. The route is owned and maintained by the National Park Service and is considered part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Route description

The Gatlinburg Bypass begins at an intersection with U.S. 441 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 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 as it traverses Cove Mountain overlooking Gatlinburg from the west. It crosses over 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. 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" : continuing north along the river, 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