Two of the 318 curves in the 11-mile Tail of the Dragon.
The Tail of the Dragon is one of the favorite technical roads in the Eastern United States for motorcycle and sport car enthusiasts alike. Its 318 turns in 11 miles through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and western North Carolina are a popular destination for Miatas, Corvettes and British sports cars clubs as well as everything on two wheels. Due to a rock slide on March 14, the major access road to the top of the hill was restricting access to “The Tail” for most of the spring and summer, however, Tennessee DOT reports that Route 129 construction to repair the area where the rock slide occurred, just south of the Foothills Parkway, has been completed as of July 9. This makes it once again possible to approach the twisting and turning byway again from both Marysville, Tennessee, to the north and Robbinsville, North Carolina, from the south. Since the slide occurred, Rt. 129 traffic was restricted around the site of the rubble and police and emergency service coverage from the Tennessee end of The Dragon was difficult. Even with routine patrols and speed traps along the 11-mile stretch, crashes are inevitable. The rock slide on Rt. 129 was just one of the problems for residents of that area, Interstate 40 also had a rock slide last spring, making NC State Route 441 from Cherokee, North Carolina, to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, the only access road to the area for a time. Now that the highway has once again opened, the popular destination should be even busier for the rest of the summer.
