Road Closings-Hwy 441 Smokies & Cherohala Skyway

[Millsaps2]

https://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/16/part-of-us-441-slides-off-a-mountain/

https://www.grahamstar.com/articles/2013/01/17/breaking_news/doc50f86f49a2530449359649.txt

 

[wheatonFJR]

Gonna be hard to get around the mountains for awhile...

 

[SLK50]

Always wanted to go to Maine & N. E.

This may be the year.

 

[Goodman4]

That sucks. Looks like the rain caused this over a fairly wide area. I wonder if the south end of the Blue Ridge Parkway has been affected. This was the year we had planned for that.

 

[leedavis]

These are high profile tourist roads so many people notice but washouts, slides and detours aren't uncommon. They come with the territory in the mountains. There are area roads where you'd think you were traversing a mountain pass in Bolivia. Scary and fun! I wouldn't let it interfere with vacation plans. This is a target rich environment. There are more great roads and sites than you could ever ride or visit on a given trip.

 

[Bungie]

There are more great roads and sites than you could ever ride or visit on a given trip.

Ya, but its great fun trying!

 

[lonerider]

Also happened some years back (2005?) in four spots on the BRP between Spruce Pine and Mt. Mitchell, same situation, ridiculous amount of rain in a short period of time. Took the Park Service a while to get it open again. I remember riding north through one of the sections that was just re opened to one lane (alternating traffic), gravel on fill dirt because the blacktop was somewhere downhill, in a heavy rain. The Park Service sometimes has their hands full trying to keep the Parkway open. Good site to check for current road conditions, closures, etc.:

https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm

 

[eFnJustRide]

Hopefully they'll be open by Spring, the Skyway is our playground!

 

[blrfjr]

I love riding the skyway almost as much as discvering new roads to ride.

 

[blrfjr]

This is why we have that "DETOUR" button on the gps.