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Popular overlook in Smokies park closed due to road cracks

Carlos Campbell Overlook, about 2 miles from Sugarlands Visitor Center, features a sweeping view of Mount LeConte.

Drive-up access to one of the most spectacular overlooks in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is closed because of pavement cracks in the pull-off.

The national park announced Friday afternoon it was temporarily closing the Carlos Campbell Overlook on busy Newfound Gap Road while crews assess cracks in the pavement and sidewalk.

"The overlook will reopen as soon as NPS and Federal Highway Administration crews make assessments and any needed repairs," a park release states.

Carlos Campbell Overlook is south of Sugarlands Visitor Center. The views from the spot include a sweeping vista of Mount LeConte.

Campbell, manager of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce in the 1920s, was a supporter in the creation of the national park and a longtime member of the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association.

He was an avid outdoorsman and wrote several books about the Smokies, including a guide in the 1960s about park wildflowers.

The NPS honored his service to the park in 1981 by naming the overlook after him.

Campbell died in 1978.

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