GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK - Officials at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have announced that the Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division has awarded a contract to Bell & Associates Highway Construction of Brentwood, TN to design and construct the next section of the uncompleted Foothills Parkway.  The contract was awarded for $24.7 million, with the funding being provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), to design and construct the 800 foot-long bridge # 2 on the eastern end of the unfinished Wears Valley to Walland segment of the Foothills Parkway known as the “missing link”.
    

Officials at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have announced that the Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division has awarded a contract to Bell & Associates Highway Construction of Brentwood, TN to design and construct the next section of the uncompleted Foothills Parkway. Photo: GSMNP.

When completed, bridge # 2 will be a graceful, elevated roadway that

forms a serpentine curve and will be supported by four piers up to 100 feet

above the ground, as it carries the road across two ravines on the south

slope of Chilhowee Mountain.  It is the longest single bridge needed to

complete the “missing link”.  Work on the new bridge is set to start on

January 15, 2010 and is scheduled for completion in November 2011.

     “Many people are familiar with the iconic Linn Cove Viaduct that

carries the Blue Ridge Parkway around Grandfather Mountain.” said Great

Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent, Dale A. Ditmanson.  “This new

bridge is very nearly as long as that structure and likely to become just

as note-worthy.”

     The Park and the Federal Highway Administration are also working to

finalize a contract to continue construction on the western, or Walland,

end of the “missing link” working eastward from bridge 8 towards Wears

Valley. They expect that work to begin in the fall of 2010.

     “The first construction on the Walland to Wears Valley segment of the

Foothills Parkway began in the late 1960’s, and has progressed sporadically

since that time.” Ditmanson continued, “We have set a goal to get that

segment completed in time for the National Park Service’s Centennial in

2016 and are optimistic that that can be done, so that visitors can enjoy

the unparalleled vistas that this segment will provide.”

     Currently the partially-completed sections of the Parkway extending

nine miles east from Walland, and four miles west from Wears Valley are

open for recreational use by hikers, cyclists and equestrians.  Park

officials plan to close the east end to all public use in mid-March when

major construction begins. In the meantime, visitors using this section

should be mindful that the contractor will be travelling this section in

motor vehicles.