Great Smoky Mountains National Park is starting four American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects to improve hiker parking areas and resurface two roads in the Park.
     The $12.2 million for these projects brings total Recovery Act funding for the Smokies to $77.5 million.
     The projects are: re-paving the Foothills Parkway-East, the Smokemont Campground and the Heintooga Ridge Road.  
     In addition, the Park will create new hiker parking areas and repave the roads leading to the popular Little River and Jakes Creek Trails in the Elkmont Area.
     “All the roads to be resurfaced suffer from substantial pavement failure and cracking which allows moisture to seep into the base material where it freezes and thaws, causing the base material to crumble,” said Kevin FitzGerald, the park’s Deputy Superintendent. “Resurfacing these roads now will prevent us having to make much more expensive repairs a few years down the line as well as providing a safer more enjoyable ride for our over 9 million annual visitors.”
     The Recovery Act appropriated $3 billion to the Department of the Interior.  Of that amount, $750 million in funding goes to the National Park Service.  An additional $170 million of Recovery Act funding will be spent in National Park Service roads through the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.
     The Smokies has received more than $33 million of this funding to continue construction of the uncompleted Foothills Parkway.
     Work is already underway to repave the Smokemont Campground under a $2,176,300 contract to ES & H based in Knoxville, Tenn. That campground is closed but is scheduled to reopen after the work is finished on May 27.
     A $1,301,847 contract was awarded on April 6 to Lexington ontracting, LLC of Lexington, KY to pave three parking areas and to repave all the connecting roads between the Little River Trailhead and the Elkmont Historic District.  
     During the early phases of construction visitor access to Jakes Creek and Little River Trails will be provided, but the area will be closed between July 6 and August 31 when safe passage can no longer be possible through the construction zone.
     Contracts are for the repaving of the Heintooga Ridge Road and the Foothills Parkway East in Cocke County are presently in the solicitation phase.
     Details on all of the park’s Recovery Act and other facility and road construction projects are available on the Park’s Web site at www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit.
     

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