second spur slide not expected to effect tourism

     The Smoky Mountain National Park has cleared the second Spur rockslide by Monday afternoon, but there was still the question of if it would impact tourism.
    By Monday morning Charles Blalock and Sons workers had cleared away all the fallen rock, dirt and trees from Friday’s slide on the southbound Pigeon Forge – Gatlinburg Spur.
     Park officials believe that the slope above the slide site is now stabilized, but as a precaution, jersey barriers will funnel south-bound traffic into the left lane away from the rock face for several weeks to allow time for any remaining material to come down.
    Between 7 and 8 p.m. Monday night workers from the Park, TDOT, Blalock and Sons, and Pigeon Forge worked together to remove all the cones, barriers and signs that were installed last Friday to detour all the south-bound traffic toward Gatlinburg via the Huskey Grove Road overpass.
    Traffic flow is now expected to return to what it was before Friday’s slide.
    With two slides occurring within a month, and the second slide now cleared, Sevier County Economic Development Council Executive Director Allen Newton does not expect tourism to be effected.
    “As rock slides happen it creates an issue for travelers and what is great is that the city of Gatlinburg and the National Park handled the situation very quickly and got it cleared up,” Newton said.
    He added that the amount of information released in regard to the detours pertaining to the two slides reassured motorists and tourists that the roads were still travelable.
    “That is really all you can do,” he said. “If a slide is going to slide then it is going to slide. You just have to be prepared.”
    In Newton’s opinion the traffic being diverted and detours being in place did not and will not affect tourism negatively.
    “There are other ways to get to Gatlinburg besides the Spur and I don’t think it has caused a huge problem so far,” he said.
    Newton added that since tourism isn’t as heavy this time of year, the travel issues weren’t as severe.