Blog for Zipline Attraction in the Smoky Mountains
Located in Pigeon Forge, TN and near Gatlinburg and Sevierville.
Foothills Parkway May Be Expanding
By Ross Bodhi Ogle
Posted on August 13, 2024
Foothills Parkway, the scenic driving route that runs through much of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is a study in both accomplishment and unrealized potential. Authorized on February 22, 1944, Foothills Parkway offers 22.5 miles of gorgeous driving scenery and treats travelers to some of the most stunning views of the Smokies that you'll find anywhere in the park.
However, the corridor allocated for Foothills Parkway - one of the seven Congressionally mandated parkways - is actually 72 miles long, meaning that not even one-third of the total route has been developed for travel. It's the oldest unfinished highway project in Tennessee, falling short over the decades due to funding obstacles and challenging mountain terrain.
However, park officials are considering adding a new nine-mile stretch of the road, extending from Wears Valley to the Gatlinburg Spur.
"We know that many visitors come to Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the scenic driving, and this would really be an exceptional opportunity for people to see the beautiful mountains and the great views from the parkway," said Emily Davis, public affairs specialist for the national park.
No funding for the project has been allocated as of yet, but at this point, park officials are soliciting opinions from the general public regarding a recent environmental assessment of the proposed construction. Construction on the new segment could take as long as 10 years, so minimizing the project's impact on the environment is a priority.
"We're looking at geography and other things as well to minimize impacts to the resources and the communities in the area," Davis said. "We've been doing studies on the botany, the plants, the animals, all of that.”
Such studies would continue if funding is approved and construction begins.
The first section of Foothills Parkway to be completed was the 17-mile stretch running from Chilhowee Lake to U.S. 321 in Walland, TN, in 1966. On the opposite end, a 5.6-mile segment was opened in 1968, running from Interstate 40 to U.S. 321 near Cosby, TN.
The most recent addition is a 16-mile stretch extending the parkway from Walland to Wears Valley. The proposed link would help bridge the 33.5-mile gap that currently exists between Wears Valley and Cosby. The National Park Service owns the right of way to run the parkway through that gap, but until recently, no concrete plans have been in place to finish the project.
Foothills Parkway is similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway, which runs for 469 miles through 29 counties in Virginia and North Carolina. It links Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and offers a multitude of recreational opportunities and historic sites along the way.
Adding the new section to Foothills Parkway would help ease traffic flow into and out of the national park, allowing visitors an alternate route among popular sections of the park as well.
If the new section were in place today, you could easily travel from Smoky Mountain Ziplines to the Spur (we're only a couple of miles away) and then take Foothills Parkway back toward Wears Valley and on to Walland, where travelers are then only a few miles away from the Townsend entrance to the national park.
Of course, that's a hypothetical that's a decade away in a best-case scenario. In the meantime, our Pigeon Forge ziplines are still easily accessible from multiple directions, including Sevierville to the north, Gatlinburg to the south and Wears Valley to the west. If you still have some travel plans left in your summer or early fall, we hope you'll consider making us a part of them. Call us or go online to book your canopy tour today!
