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Cades Cove has always been cool — in its spirit and by its nature. But never has the Cades Cove Loop been so smooth as it is today.

Closed since March 1 for the road to be reconstructed, the loop road will reopen to the public 28 days ahead of schedule on April 24.

Eleven miles of asphalt have been laid. More than 16,000 feet of protective black silt fence to protect Cove creeks has been removed. Stonemasons have finished laying fieldstone that decorate the Cove’s fords.

The work was done by Alcoa-based Harrison Construction. Project Manager Todd Davis, a Blount County native, said a lot of the work was done by people with a connection to the Cove, and the work was done with pride.

“Typically, they don’t want me operating a lot of equipment. I don’t mind to grab a shovel to jump in and help. But there are some things here that I definitely plan — when my kids get old enough — to say, ‘Hey, see this stonework right here. I did this,’” said Davis, 32.

Because of the condensed timetable to get the work done, the job was a tough one, according to Davis. Sometimes workers slept in their cars. Sometimes they worked at night. Sometimes they worked 18-hour days. Whenever the weather permitted, they worked on weekends.

And the weather was not cooperative. Eleven work days were lost in January due to snow. Eleven more days were lost in February because of snow and rain. And that does not account for all the days when work continued despite rain and snow.

And there were other unexpected time eaters. Once a sinkhole tried to swallow a piece of paving equipment. One ford turned out to be two, one built on top of the other. That took twice as long to remove.

But the workers were cooperative.

“Of the core people who worked this job, some live in Blount County and have ancestors that lived in the Cove,” Davis said.

“One of our grading foremen came up here in November and got engaged. I told him, ‘Hey, I know you love Cades Cove, but I don’t know if you’ll like it too much after this.’ Last week he told me, this is one his favorite places in the world and he’s coming back here once a month,” Davis said.

“What an experience you have to work on something like this.”

It took an extraordinary amount of cooperation with the National Park Service and the Federal Highway Administration to get the job done well and quickly, according to Davis.

Harrison had a preconstruction contract for the $5 million plus project in mid-December. A week later the company was formally awarded the job. Before Christmas James Hawkins, project manager was on site for preliminary work. Harrison received a notice to proceed on Jan. 7. The first of 22 new culverts under the roadway was laid on Jan. 11.

The repaving process, called “full-depth reclamation,” involved using specialized equipment that essentially rototilled the existing pavement, mixed it with the underlying materials to a depth of 6 inches, then incorporated water and Portland cement.

Total roadway excavated was 1,265 cubic yards. Laid asphalt weighed 15,500 tons. Base stone weighed 4,500 tons. Workers also place 80 cubic yards of field stone around fords at Tater Branch, McCaulay Branch and Crooked Arm Branch.

The stonework at the head walls at the fords is special. It was done by Espina Stone Co., of Fairfax, Va. The company’s owner, a stonemason originally from Spain, Jose Espina, oversaw the job. Espina is an artisan, Davis said.

The job was staffed primarily with salaried managers — paving foremen, grading foremen, superintendents, management, Davis said.

“I told Federal Highway, ‘Hey, technically I’m over our construction arm, but I’m coming up and running this job. I’m going to be here every day. We have project managers, but I’m coming and I’m bringing the best of the best of what we’ve got to do this,” Davis said.

“We pushed our people and asked an awful lot of all of us. We got the goal, but it didn’t come easy. You work with these people 18 hours a day and some guys slept in their cars at night. But they’re smiling today.”