Welcome to North Carolina! South access via Intertate Highway # 40 to Waterville, NC - Cove Creel, NC. - Canton, NC. - Asheville, NC. -- Start / Finish of Road Map Highway Travel Guide. -e I-40 (exit 407) to the Great Smoky Mountains Please note: As this is the most traveled route to the Smoky Mountains from the Knoxville area, for the first 13 miles of this highway you will be traveling Tennesse State Route 66. At Sevierville this route now becomes US Route 441. Have a safe trip!