Construction of Stabilized Grass Pull-Offs Using Geo-Technology Along the Gatlinburg Spur.

摘要

The Gatlinburg Spur of the Foothills Parkway is a section of US 441 and US 321 that runs between the cities of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This section of US 441/321 is owned, regulated, and maintained by the National Park Service. The Gatlinburg Spur has no paved and very narrow grass shoulders. Grass shoulders are the standard design for park service roads and parkways for aesthetics and to minimize the impact of the roadway footprint on the environment. However, the Spur Road is not a typical park road because of the large volume of high-speed traffic generated by the tourist towns at either end. Because of the combination of high volumes of traffic, excessive speeds, changes in geometric configuration, and tourists unfamiliar with the roadway, the number of accidents in the area is high. When accidents occur along the Gatlinburg Spur Road there are very few areas where motorists can safely pull off the roadway until help arrives. Further, park rangers working these accidents have trouble finding areas to safely pull off the roadway. More common is the problem of pulling back onto the roadway once they become stuck in the mud of a soft soil shoulder. As a result, the National Park Service requested that the Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division (EFLHD) of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) design and construct a project to provide for safe and stable pull-off areas to be used by accident victims and park rangers.