Gagging in Gatlinburg Traffic

I forgot to warn those of you who may be interested in visiting Gatlinburg and are unfamiliar with its traffic . . . er, flow. . . .

In essence, traffic doesn't flow there. The nearby mountain streams move a lot faster than the traffic in town. Insofar as we've determined, Gatlinburg is in the throes of a perpetual traffic jam. There seems to be no particular "rush hour." After dinner Saturday evening, we were forced to drive in slow, thick traffic for more than a mile in the wrong direction before we found a turn-back point and joined the really thick lanes of cars inching in the direction we needed to go. (We had to do that because it was impossible to make a left turn out of the parking lot.)

One source of Gatlinburg's automotive woes, IMHO, is its abundant pedestrian crossings where people singly or in small groups literally can stop traffic and cross the street whenever they feel like it; they don't have to wait for crossing lights. Result: Pedestrians get around quite well in Gatlinburg; drivers languish. (Gasoline efficiency? Who's worried. . . ?)