After two overnight crashes, including one involving a car hauler that crashed into a wall and down an embankment, the National Park Service announced Oct. 5 that U.S. 441/Newfound Gap Road will be closed nightly to keep commercial vehicles off the curvy two-lane road in the Smokies.
The road that runs through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park between Tennessee and North Carolina will be closed to all traffic from 10 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. every day.
There is no timeline for when the nightly closures will end, but park officials are working on options to prevent commercial vehicles from using the road overnight. That’s the main priority, as commercial vehicles already were banned from using the route because of its winding nature and steep grades.
Park officials will staff checkpoints during the day to turn away commercial vehicles, Park Management Assistant Katie Liming told Knox News, while other traffic will be allowed to pass through.
In just a 24-hour period after the road reopened Oct. 2, the park turned away more than 45 large commercial vehicles, Liming said.
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