Crews Clear Debris; Reopen Gatlinburg Bypass

Good news for visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National park. The Gatlinburg Bypass is now back open following a significant landslide that temporarily closed the roadway over the weekend. The landslide happened just before noon on Saturday near the Great Smoky Mountains entrance sign on the Bypass. In just 90 minutes, mother nature dropped 3.47 inches of rain down on that area. That led to the slide which brought down mud, trees and other debris, covering approximately 150 feet of both lanes of the bypass under 1 to 4 feet of material.

Since Saturday afternoon, crews have worked diligently to clear more than 140 truck loads of debris from the road. Crews also cleared the adjacent ditches, drainages and a culvert that were filled during the landslide. The City of Gatlinburg, Sevier County and the City of Sevierville all had a hand in getting the 3.6 mile roadway back open. The bypass is a connection between the Gatlinburg Spur and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, bypassing the parkway through Gatlinburg.