US 74 West - Great Smoky Mountains Expressway - North Carolina - 4K Highway Drive

Westbound drive along the FULL route of the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway in western North Carolina. Video begins on I-40 in Haywood County and ends just outside the Nantahala Gorge area.
Filmed: October 2021

Cities Explored: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mi...

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From Wikipedia:
The Great Smoky Mountains Expressway is a four-lane divided highway that serves as the main east–west corridor through Southwestern North Carolina; connecting the towns of Bryson City, Sylva and Waynesville to Interstate 40. Its establishment and funding was made possible by the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS), designed to generate economic development in previously isolated areas, supplement the interstate system and provide access to areas within the region as well as to markets in the rest of the nation.

Established on September 16, 1983, the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway was designated along US 19, US 19 Bypass and the I-40 Connector, between Alarka Road and Interstate 40. Unofficially, US 19A was still designated along most of the route between Bryson City and Lake Junaluska, despite the official redesignation; this would continue to persist till the mid-1990s. In 1986, US 74 was extended west from Asheville to Chattanooga, Tennessee, which overlapped nearly all of the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway, via US 19 and US 19 Bypass; the following year, US 19 Bypass was decommissioned in favor of US 74. In late 1997, US 74 was rerouted onto the I-40 Connector, in Clyde, clinching all of Great Smoky Mountains Expressway.

Over the years, expressway sections of the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway have been improved by adding Superstreet designs, designating u-turns and eliminating traffic signal along the route.

Time Stamps:
Haywood County: 0:00-14:44
Jackson County: 14:45-35:07
Swain County: 35:08