I love the Smoky Mountains but the traffic is awful. There are times when it takes 2 hours to go from I-40 to Gatlinburg on TN-66. It's worse than NYC/LA traf

I love the Smoky Mountains but the traffic is awful. There are times when it takes 2 hours to go from I-40 to Gatlinburg on TN-66. It's worse than NYC/LA traffic. Have you ever been up near the Cumberland Gap around this time? I imagine that it's also beautiful but less crowded (I've only ever been there in the summer).