Heavy rains over the past few weeks continue to cause problems in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

A 70-foot long pedestrian bridge near the entrance to the Chimney Tops Trail, was destroyed by high waters and will have to be completely replaced in order to allow access to the trail. An estimate for the completion date is yet to be determined.

Recent flooding has also temporarily closed sections of gravel roads at popular locations in the park. The Greenbrier road past the Greenbrier Ranger Station, the Cataloochee road past Palmer Chapel and the Parson’s Branch Road are all temporarily closed as of February 7.

The damage is currently being assessed and it’s estimated that the repairs to these repairs will be completed by the end of March as the roads will need to be graveled and re-graded.

The gravel roads in Greenbrier, Cataloochee, and Parson’s Branch were washed out exposing underlying rock and culverts. Park crews are assessing the damage and estimate that repairs will be completed by the end of March. In addition to replacing culverts, roads will need to be graveled and re-graded.

On January 16 heavy rains and a stream flowing beneath a section of Newfound Gap Road (Hwy 441 between Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Cherokee, NC) caused a landslide which destroyed a large part of the road. Repair work on that was started last week and will cost up to $7.2 million.