The Dragon in Tennessee

It’s a road beloved by driving and motorcycle riding enthusiasts because it contains a smoothly paved, 11-mile stretch of road with 318 turns.

It’s called the the Dragon in Tennessee and extends into North Carolina where it’s called Deals Gap.

It’s also called the Dragon because it’s scary and unsafe driving will be rewarded with injury and death.

The State of Tennessee this week banned semi trucks from using that stretch of road because the road is so tight that large semis can’t make turns without splitting both lanes in the middle of blind turns into oncoming traffic.

New signs warning truckers to the law change will be displayed in January, Tennessee Department of Transportation officials said.

You can read more about this from Autoweek here, and Hemmings here.

We’ve included a couple videos that help demonstrate what a danger the large rigs can be to drivers and riders, especially on the most-perilous stretches of the Tail of the Dragon.

Author: Matt Griswold

After a 10-year newspaper journalism career, Matt Griswold spent another decade writing about the automotive aftermarket and motorsports. He was part of the original OnAllCylinders editorial team when it launched in 2012.