Great Smoky Mountains Expressway

The Great Smoky Mountains Expressway has two overlapping truck routes. US 19 Truck traverses the former US 19A route, between Bryson City and Lake Junaluska; signage appears only at the end points, with no reassurance signs along route. US 64 Truck overlaps between Dillsboro and Clyde; it is well signed throughout the route. Though US 441 has no truck route, commercial traffic is not allowed through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; recommended instead to traverse east on US 74 and then west I-40 into Tennessee.

The Great Smoky Mountains Expressway roughly follows the route of the historic Murphy Branch of the Western North Carolina Railroad, established in the late 19th century, now owned by the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad and the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. In 1921, wagon roads that roughly paralleled the tracks were integrated as part of the new highway system in North Carolina; designated as NC 10, its routing through the southwestern North Carolina mountains connected it with the rest of the state, going as far east as to Beaufort. In 1927, US 19 was established along NC 10, west of Asheville; by 1934, NC 10 was eliminated from the route. In 1948, US 19 was rerouted between Ela and Lake Junaluska, via Soco Gap; its old alignment became US 19A.

In 1965, Congress authorized the construction of the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) in the Appalachian Development Act of 1965. The ADHS was 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. US 19A benefited from the ADHS by being designated as part of Corridor K (Ela-Dillsboro) and Corridor A (Dillsboro-Clyde). The first freeway section opened in 1967, bypassing west of Waynesville and continuing northeast to I-40.[4] The second freeway section opened in 1974, bypassing north of Dillsboro and Sylva.[5] The third and final section of freeway opened in 1976, bypassing east of Bryson City to US 441.[6] By 1979, the two gap sections were widened and improved to expressway grade, completing a four-lane highway from Bryson City to I-40.

To make the highway more consistent, in 1982, NCDOT submitted a request to AASHTO to swap US 19 and US 19A between Bryson City and Lake Junaluska; but was later withdrawn before the vote, in thanks to opposition by businesses in the resort town of Maggie Valley, who opposed losing US 19.[7][8] In 1984, NCDOT made a new request to redesignate US 19A into US 19 Bypass; it was so approved.[9]

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.[10][11][12][13][14] In late 1997, US 74 was rerouted onto the I-40 Connector, in Clyde, clinching all of Great Smoky Mountains Expressway.[15][16]

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.