Most of the Great Smoky Mountains Parkway is a divided highway, except for the segment south of Gatlinburg, which carries little traffic. Most of the parkway has been widened to six lanes, and is one of the most congested arterial routes in the state. The road is simply called "Parkway" in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, where most of the commercial land development has occurred in those two cities. Both have numbered each traffic light sequentially to make it easier for non-locals to find their hotels and other tourist attractions. Sevierville has its traffic lights numbered in miles and tenths, according to the mileage from the national park boundary. The Great Smoky Mountains Parkway begins as a segment of US 441 at the Tennessee-North Carolina state line in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a few miles south of Gatlinburg. Entering Gatlinburg, the route widens to four lanes as an undivided arterial route. In downtown Gatlinburg, the route turns north at an intersection with US 321, beginning a wrong-way concurrency with that route. Leaving Gatlinburg, the parkway becomes part of the Foothills Parkway as its spur route, although that roadway has yet to be built in the area. This segment, on a narrow strip of National Park Service land, is a four-lane divided highway which runs along both banks of the northward-flowing Little Pigeon River. Where the river briefly diverts to the west and back east again, the southbound roadway on the west bank also curves around, while the northbound lanes go through a tunnel. The Gatlinburg visitor center is located just before entering the townfrom the north. The Gatlinburg Bypass, part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, connects with the parkway to provide a direct access to the National Park. All of these parkways are operated as part of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with support for design and road construction from the Federal Highway Administration through the Public Lands Transportation Program as in other national parks. Entering Pigeon Forge, the NPS corridor ends and the route widens to six lanes. A short distance later is an intersection with SR 448, which serves as an alternative route to the parkway between Pigeon Forge and Sevierville. A short distance beyond this point, US 321 splits off to the east, heading towards Maryville. Upon entering Sevierville, the parkway splits into an east and west branch, which together encircle the business district of Sevierville, as well as a spur in both directions along U.S. 411. Northbound traffic is directed along the east branch, which contains three northbound lanes and one southbound lane, and southbound traffic along the west branch, which contains three southbound lanes and one northbound lane. In this split section, both north and southbound lanes intersect with US 411, where US 441 splits of into a concurrency with US 411 to the east. At this intersection, the parkway becomes part of SR 66, and is known as Winfield Dunn parkway. The parkway continues north for several more miles through a less-developed area, before reaching an intersection with SR 139. A few miles later, the parkway reaches its northern terminus at the Exit 407 diverging diamond interchange with Interstate 40.
Christmas displays
Within the towns, the road is decorated with Christmas lights all winter. As a six-lane divided highway through Pigeon Forge, very tall multi-fixture street lights in the median are decorated with white LED snowflakes that "fall" down the poles. In Gatlinburg, white LED deciduous trees sprout from the lampposts, in addition to other displays, such as the large one that stretches across the road at the town's northern entrance. In Sevierville, the traditional and much brighter snowflake light sculptures are still in use.
History
The northernmost segment of the parkway between Sevierville and I-40 was widened from four to six lanes in three phases with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Phase 1, between Nichols Street and SR 338, began on July 15, 2009 and was completed on November 18, 2011 at a cost of $38.6 million. Phase 2, between SR 139 and I-40, began in September 2010 and was completed in November 2012 at a cost of $23.3 million. Phase 3, between SR 338 and SR 139 began in March 2012, and was expected to be completed by October 31, 2014. This project was delayed to Dexember 2015 and cost $32.5 million. The interchange with I-40 was reconstructed into a diverging diamond interchange between March 12, 2014 and June 30, 2015.
