Tractor Trailer Gets Stuck Attempting Roaring Fork Motor Trail

With I-40 closed going into North Carolina, commercial vehicles are being re-routed up I-81 into Virginia to Interstate 77. Some truck drivers are still trying to use Newfound Gap Road theough the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as a detour. That road is and always has been off-limits to commercial vehicles, due to its steep grade and tight curves. To keep those vehicles from getting onto Newfound Gap Road, the National Park Service set up checkpoints at the each end of the road, in Cerokee, NC and in Gatlinburg. Those checkpoints are being manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the Eastern Band Of Cherokee police on hte NOrth Carolina side and Sevier County authorities on the Tennessee side. Sevier County, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville officers alll helping man that checkpoint.

The National Park Service says since October 2, over 800 commercial vehicles have been turned away at these checkpoints. Now, one truck driver decided he would try to go up Roarking Fork Motor Trail, which is a one way scenic road in the park. The driver got stuck Sunday night and Monday morning, that truck had to be towed backwards back out of the motor trail and into Gatlinburg. The driver was cited for operating a commercial vehicle on a restricted roadway. That fine can be as much as $5,000.