History
The expressway is limited-access much like an Interstate highway at various points along its route, including stretches between Interstate 40 and the west side of Waynesville, through Sylva and near Cherokee. While the route does include some at-grade intersections, there are currently no traffic signals along the route to impede traffic.
The Great Smoky Mountains Expressway roughly follows the route of the historic Murphy Branch of the Western North Carolina Railroad, now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway and the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. Much like the railroad was before it, the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway was and still is important in connecting the mostly rural areas in the southwest to the rest of the state. However, there is very little traffic compared to typical expressways, as there is no other major route or population center for it to connect to in the southwest.
Read more about this topic: Great Smoky Mountains Expressway
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“Properly speaking, history is nothing but the crimes and misfortunes of the human race.”
—Pierre Bayle (1647–1706)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“If you look at the 150 years of modern China’s history since the Opium Wars, then you can’t avoid the conclusion that the last 15 years are the best 15 years in China’s modern history.”
—J. Stapleton Roy (b. 1935)