GeaBu88

Hey

For anyone who lives by or frequents the Deals Gap mountain path, I was curious about the infamous road. I basically have 3 questions:

1) How congested is traffic? The website says 400 vehicles per day, but it was for 2002. Is it minutes before you see another car, if you see any at all? Or do you pass vehicles every 30 seconds? What about at night, between say 11pm and dawn?

2) How often do cops/troopers patrol the road? I mean they have to know about it with all the publicity it receives; how high is it on their priority list? Once again, how about between 11pm and dawn?

3) Is it all that it's cracked up to be?

Thanks

Stanello

iTrader: (1)

Well, I've been to Deal's Gap twice. First time in the spring with the RX-7 crowd, and the second time in the fall with the RX-8 group.

1) I don't think the traffic is all that bad, but it seems that the worst traffic is in the early afternoon, but it still moves rather well. Sometimes you get stuck behind a minivan for a few minutes, but they almost always pull off the road to let you by. Other times, especially in the mornings, you'll have the road basically to yourself. I haven't done a night run yet.

2) In the spring, we had a policeman talk to our group before we ran through the Gap. He basically warned us of the dangers of the road, and told us to be careful. He left and I didn't see another cop the rest of the day. In the fall, there were some police patroling the road during the afternoon, four if I remember right, mostly State Troopers. One guy I was with got a warning, but that's all. The police that are there, are there to help. They're not out to get you.

3) Yes

You should come with us to the Deals Gap Rotary Rally in the spring.

Deal's Gap Rotary Rally

We've recently got our own sub-forum under "Rotary Owner Events"

LizardFC

iTrader: (1)

1) Traffic depends solely on the day/time/season. During April-October is peak time for events and tourism, so traffic can be frequent, especially on the weekends. If you go up there in the middle of the night/morning, you probably won't see more than a few cars if any. The winter months are pretty quiet up there because most of the bikers hate the cold and the lodge is closed, but you'll still pass a car every few minutes on average during the daylight hours.

2) I have yet to pass a cop while actually on the Tail. They usually sit on the TN side by the lake and watch for obvious threats. They do much more good than harm up there from what I've seen, and focus more on pulling over semis and clearing hazards then hassling riders and drivers. I've heard about a lot of motorcycle cops up there, so watch out for those because they're hard to spot.

3) Yeah, it's one hell of a drive.

Things to watch out for:

Semi-trucks! I hate it when big rigs think they can make it up there. They almost always get stuck on a hairpin, and they can't make it through without a lot of dangerous lane crossing. Imagine coming around a corner to find a semi-truck completely blocking both lanes!

Deer! Especially at night, deer wander across the road, and they DON'T MOVE. They'll just stand there and wait for you to hit them, or even worse, jump out infront of you. They're not too bright.

Patches of leaves/ice. Neither are very good for traction, and in the fall and winter months, you're liable to see both.

Floridians - I'm sorry, Florida guys, it's nothing personal, but everytime I see a FL license tag, it's in the wrong lane going 10mph.

Whatever you do, don't be one of those guys who thinks he can lane cross because his peripheral vision is so good that he *knows* no one is coming. As the signs say, lane crossing really does kill up there. Besides, the road is more of a challenge when you're confined to one line.

Check Killboy's blog site - www.killboy.com for up to date info about events/traffic and a ton of pictures. I've got some recent pictures up on my myspace group, too - http://groups.myspace.com/US129

AgentSpeed

www.dealsgaprotaryrally.com

GeaBu88

Thanks for all the sites
But how fast was the guy that got the warning speeding? Or was he crossing lanes or something? The 30mph limit (if the site's information isn't outdated) seems really really low. How fast do they actually allow you to go before they turn on the lights?
Haha, that definetly would not be me

Turbo II

iTrader: (1)

To be honest, with the exception of a couple of long straights to the Dragon I didn't have time to look at my speedo! You might be lucky to hit 45 anywhere on it if I had to guess then hit the brakes and make a turn...

Stanello

iTrader: (1)

I wasn't with the guy that got a warning, he just told me about it. If I remember right, he was a little sideways coming out of a corner or something like that.

The speed limit will be the least of your worries.

LizardFC

iTrader: (1)

With stock FC suspension, it's possible to do 60+ on most of the road excluding hairpins. There are a few spots where you can hit 100+, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you know the road.

DoubleRRider

just please watch the doube yellows. thats the biggest problem there, for both cars and bikes. take it easy your first time or two through and try to learn the road as best you can. also if someone comes up behind you and is obviously much quicker, be nice and pull over for them if they're a car or slow and wave them past if its a bike. they will really appreciate you for it, cant tell you how many runs i've had that were ruined because someone's ego wouldn't let the quicker locals on by em.

also if you decide to stay at fontana village, join the dragon slayers (if its still around) 25% off cabins and 35% off hotel rooms. i'm not sure if they still do it or not though since its been 2yrs since i've stayed there.