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Road to Cades Cove to reopen early on Saturday

The winter closure to Cades Cove will be over Saturday, and visitors will be happy to get back to the popular 11-mile loop.

Cades Cove will reopen early to visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

Initially, crews expected to open the road on Sunday. Park officials said crews finished the $950,000 Bote Mountain Tunnel repair along Laurel Creek Road ahead of schedule. The Cades Cove Campground will reopen on March 5, 2020. 

The park said intermittent, single-lane closures will be necessary between March 1 and June 15 to re-pave the tunnel area. Drivers should expect weekday delays during the paving operations. This work will not occur on weekends, federal holidays, or the week before and after Easter.

Park officials told 10News that work on the main access road to the popular 11-mile loop is on track to be completed this weekend and the road should be back open on Sunday, March 1.

Laurel Creek Road, the seven-mile access road from the Townsend Wye to Cades Cove had been closed to all traffic, including pedestrians and cyclists, since January 5.

During the closure, workers made repairs to the Bote Mountain Tunnel, which was built in 1948 and hadn't had any significant upgrades since then.

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The Elkmont and Smokemont campgrounds remained open to accommodate winter campers.

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