GATLINBURG, Tenn. - The dedication of a new bridge has chipped away at a 16-mile missing link of the Foothills Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Knoxville Republican U.S. Rep. John Duncan led a group of dignitaries who cut a ribbon Monday at Bridge 2, opening another 1.6 miles of the road.
The parkway was authorities by Congress in 1944 and, while both ends of the 72-mile-long road were opened in 1968, the middle section remains unfinished. Only about one-third of the road is usable.
A multiple bridges project is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but not all of the remaining work has funds set aside.