Situated along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the state line crosses the gap, as does Newfound Gap Road (which overlaps U.S. Route 441 through the park and ends at the park's boundaries near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North Carolina).

[5] Indian Gap Road, an unpaved, arduous trail frequented by traders, farmers, and even by the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, was completed in 1839 and named after the old Cherokee Indian trail that the road paralleled.

When closed, the snow route is a long detour around the east-northeast end of the park, using U.S. 321 and Interstate 40.

Additionally, being in a national park, Newfound Gap Road is only treated by snowplows and a gravel-sand mix, as no chemicals can be used for snow removal due to their harm to the environment.

The road was closed for days after the Great Blizzard of 1993, when 5 feet (1.5 m) of snow fell, and snowdrifts piled up to twice that.