Rockslide closes down I-40

[Davidson Deac II]

Rockslide

A rockslide in western North Carolina near the Tennessee state line has closed Interstate 40, and officials say it could take several months to clear the debris.

The state Department of Transportation on Sunday issued an emergency declaration. Initial estimates from engineers are that it could take several months to clean up the entire slide and restore traffic.

DOT said a contractor is en route to begin clean up.

The rockslide occurred shortly after 2 a.m. near mile marker 3 in Haywood County.

A detour has been set up. Motorists traveling west to Tennessee should take I-40 West to I-240 West in Asheville to I-26 West. Follow I-26 West from Asheville to I-81 South in Tennessee, back to I-40. Eastbound motorists will follow the reverse directions.

I guess no one was on the road when it happened thankfully.

[guigrrl]

I remember this happening about 7 years ago or so. Crazy!

[guigrrl]

someone hacked my account! COOL!

[TheSaint]

Me being paranoid, I always think this is going to happen when i drive thru there. glad no one was killed.

[guigrrl]

I freak out driving through there too - the chain link nets freak me out

[Ounce]

Outstanding, I was planning on heading to Knoxville this weekend for some Halloween festivities... Anyone familiar with the area know of alternate routes. The paper mentioned taking I-26 all the way up to I-81 in TN but thats a pretty insane detour. Are there not any smaller roads that might work?

[TheSaint]

I freak out driving through there too - the chain link nets freak me out

Hah, yeah. Like those are really going to stop a big one. They are just there to catch the babies.

[TheSaint]

Outstanding, I was planning on heading to Knoxville this weekend for some Halloween festivities... Anyone familiar with the area know of alternate routes. The paper mentioned taking I-26 all the way up to I-81 in TN but thats a pretty insane detour. Are there not any smaller roads that might work?

No, dont go that way. Take 26, but get off on 25/70 at Weaverville and go thru Hotsprings to Newport.

[Ounce]

No, dont go that way. Take 26, but get off on 25/70 at Weaverville and go thru Hotsprings to Newport.

Thanks, I was looking at google maps trying to figure something out. That route is almost 40 minutes less time than the I-26 all the way to I-81 option. That only adds 30 minutes or so to the original travel time if I-40 wasn't shut down there.

[TheSaint]

Thanks, I was looking at google maps trying to figure something out. That route is almost 40 minutes less time than the I-26 all the way to I-81 option. That only adds 30 minutes or so to the original travel time if I-40 wasn't shut down there.

yeah, ive got to make the drive on Wednesday. Im hoping many others dont figure it out or that they have detour signs for that route, because the road is fairly winding 2 lane for quite a ways. If a lot of people detour that way, it could be slow going.

[Ounce]

yeah, ive got to make the drive on Wednesday. Im hoping many others dont figure it out or that they have detour signs for that route, because the road is fairly winding 2 lane for quite a ways. If a lot of people detour that way, it could be slow going.

Yea it seems like suggested detour by the state/govt is I-26 to I-81 to I-40 again (for both directions) so I'm hoping with you it isn't found out by too many folks.

[Ounce]

Also I wanted to see if anyone else agreed that 3 months to clear this out is a bit ridiculous. I understand that this isn't a national emergency or anything but it is a major pain not just for travelers/vacationers but also economically as it will cause commercial truckers to use a much longer route, thus more fuel and time. I can see from the pictures that its a pretty big slide but in reality couldn't a dedicated crew working around the clock probably wipe this out in a week or two? Instead we'll get the grand ole DOT style/pace of work, no wonder it takes 3 months.

[TheSaint]

wonder if they will just roll the big ones down into the Pigeon and make some new rapids.