The Appalachian Development Highway System is a network of road improvements in the eastern mountains designed to provide safe and reliable transportation to and through undeveloped areas.  The system is segmented into corridors which trace routes through particular regions.  Corridor K of this system bears the much more romantic name of the Great Smoky Mountain Expressway and follows US 64 and 74 from Dillsboro, North Carolina to Cleveland, Tennessee, past Bryson City, Andrews and Murphy.  Our fall color tour included a good bit this route and I would recommend it as an easy drive. The highway improvements provide a good bit of limited access highway which is neither curving or hilly.

To reach this stretch of highway, we drove across Newfound Gap from Gatlinburg to Cherokee, North Carolina, then turned right toward Bryson City.

Below are some of the scenes along the way, featuring a stop in the town of Murphy, North Carolina.  The old signs are on the wall of the  “No Name Deli and Restaurant” 

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