Printable View
Interstate 40 has been closed until further notice due to a major rock slide near the TN /NC line. Suggested detour is I 81 North to I 26 East from Knoxville,TN to Asheville, NC or I-26 West to I-81 South from Asheville, NC to Knoxville, TN adds about an hour or 50 miles.
I just read the AP story about this - quite the event. Hopefully nobody was injured, as it occurred during the wee hours of the morning.
No Injuries Tim! Thankfully! One lady had minor damage to her jeep when hit by a rock. I guess it happened at 2am.
According to our Capital City's TV station website, www.wral.com, the NCDOT is estimating the detour length to be some 140 miles. Having spent some time out there, I'd have to say they're right.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary
Clean up and reopening to take "anywhere from weeks to months".
Lots of video and still pics of the slide on the website.
Foy
Foy, what about using US-25 between I-26 and Newport TN as a detour? That looks to me like it will cut off a LOT of miles. If you are coming from or going to Winston-Salem or points east, I can also see US-52/I-74/I-77 to I-81 as a good alternate.
You're correct about the "shorter", but at least within the Madison County, NC section of US 25/70, from near where it leaves I-26 close to Marshall and the rest of the way to Hot Springs, NC, US 25/70 is about a goat trail. There are a number of short, steep gaps, zero passing zones, and an endless parade of school busses, log trucks, whitewater rafters headed to/from the French Broad River takeout at Hot Springs, and other local traffic. I haven't traveled Hot Springs to Newport, but US 25/70 must rise a great deal from the French Broad River at Hot Springs to the crest of the Smokies and back down to Newport. That can't be "a day at the beach", either. It would not surprise me one bit for the all-Interstate detour to beat the US 25/70 route on time of travel.Quote:
Originally Posted by glc
Certainly those headed to or from central or eastern NC or neighboring VA would do better to aim for I-81 in a fashion easier than the posted detour. Heading north from Winston-Salem to I-81 at Wytheville is one of the better ways. Any "shortcutting" RoadTrippers would be wise to forget US 58 from Hillsville to Abingdon (despite our friend Lifey who enjoyed "The Crooked Road" immensely, most despise it) and by all means forget that US 321 and US 421 traverse the mountains through Boone, NC to the Johnson City/Bristol Tennessee area. They're about as bad as US 58.
That said, driving north on US 421 from Winston-Salem to Boone, thence to Mountain City, TN, (some 130 to 140 miles of US 421 north actually travel due west from Winston-Salem to Mountain City, and the first 100 miles to Boone are NICE new Interstate-spec 4 lane) thence taking TN 91 north to Damascus, VA, then the 15 miles of US 58 west (which is NOT part of "The Crooked Road)or so to Abingdon, VA is a decent shortcut and avoids the Iron Mountains and Holston Mountain traverses which kill US 321 and 421 as viable through routes. There's a new section of TN 91 beginning on the west side of Mountain City and running to Laurel Bloomery, TN, and that bypasses the very curvy and slow section of old 91. Only about 5 miles of very slow and curvy remain between Laurel Bloomery and Damascus now. A travel-time oriented driver could probably get from Winston-Salem to Abingdon in, say, 2.25 to 2.5 hours by that route, as opposed to, say, 180 mi and 3-3.25 hrs via I-74/77/81 from Winston-Salem to Abingdon. Mountain driving in general, even on I-77, can be slow. I-81 is so regularly choked with truck traffic that the VDOT is pondering a completely new sub-parallel route for trucks only. They start passing one another on multi-mile grades and the rest of the traffic gets stuck behind 2 trucks running 18 mph for miles.
So, as we're fond of saying down here: "Nah, you can't get there from here", and "Oohhh, I know a MUCH worse way to go there than THAT way".
Foy
As of this afternoon, NCDOT is estimating up to 3 MONTHS closure on I-40 at MP 2.6, just east of the TN line.
Foy
I also saw a NCDOT official giving the 3 month estimate.
It sounds like they are quite concerned about the stability of the area, and even if they clear the obstruction, they don't want to risk someone getting hurt by another slide.
Wow, that must be some slide!
mark
To put it good old North Carolina terms: It's just a dang mess, that's what it is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Midwest Michael
Highly unstable, with large, widening cracks upslope of the present debris field. The only way in and out of the gorge is I-40 itself, so just getting to the upslope area requires bringing in equipment and hoisting it upslope where it can work. Hindsight is always 20-20, so now, after major slides in 1997, another just a few years ago, and this one, all in the same 2 mile segment, it can be said "this wasn't the ideal place to build a highway".
Foy
It looks like that is going to take more than a dust pan and brush to clear up, and to make the area safe again is going to take some doing.
Here are a couple of shots taken of the scene.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...hotos/aer2.jpg
This one seems to reveal the starting point which has left a large void.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...hotos/aer3.jpg
Those boulders are slightly on the large side !!
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...otos/i40-2.jpg
Are their small towns, local services nearby ? It could have a big impact on those who rely on the Interstate to keep their business running.
Dave,
The rockslide itself is in the midst of an isolated segment of I-40 within the Pigeon River Gorge, itself within the western 1/4 or so of I-40's traverse of the southern Blue Ridge/northern Smokies. The problem is there is no other Interstate-quality alternative route other than the long detour up to I-26, thence back to Asheville. For I-40 travelers originating or bound for positions much farther east in NC or nearby VA, there is little reason to use the posted detour, as other routes from Knoxville, TN (along I-40) to central and eastern NC and all of VA are more direct than the detour. In short, businesses from roughly Statesville and Winston-Salem, NC, all the way to Morrisville, TN, are expecting to see a sharp decline in sales. The drop for those between Asheville, NC and Newport, TN will see only local traffic during the entire repair period.
Foy
There's essentially nothing at all up there in the immediate area, but I can see it having an effect on travel-related businesses between I-81 and Asheville - because of a huge decrease in traffic between them. I haven't been up there in about 10 years or so, but I used to run it quite frequently when I lived in Chicago and my mom lived in NC. It's pretty desolate.
To my knowledge, there's no small local roads that will get you around it, so local drivers even have a substantial detour to get between TN and NC. There may be some forest service roads, but I doubt that they are passable in a normal car.
EDIT: I was still composing when Foy just posted - there's still going to be some through traffic between Asheville and Lake Junaluska - US-23 is a fairly well traveled route. That still leaves about 45 miles that will essentially be a ghost town. Most of that stretch is in the Pisgah National Forest.
I have just been looking for updates, and it seems they still have to blast away at the slope to make the area a safe working environment before further progress can happen. It's a massive undertaking and they are looking at February and $10 million dollars to get it open !
An update with blast footage on the right of the page.
And the Latest news and picture update that shows some of the machinery on site, and some amazing facts about the size of the task immediately to hand.
Better footage of the blasting here
It put a crimp into my travel plans over Thanksgiving as I was planning on driving it to visit my nephew and family in Tennessee on the way home from North Carolina.
My nephew said the detour took about an extra 45 minutes.
The latest construction update in Microsoft Streets & Trips says it's closed till April 30, for what that's worth.
Pretty much all of the news releases and media reports from local TV and newspapers over the last week or two say they are aiming to have the road reopened in March. They are working around the clock on the project and It sounds like the weather will be the biggest factor in determining if they meet the March goal.
In the meantime, I found it rather interesting that Google maps has actually deleted that stretch of road off of their online maps.
.......another rockslide has covered I-40 at a point around 4 miles east of the Milepost 2.5 big slide. The new one impacted an already-closed section, is "limited" to some 50 dumptruck loads of rock and soil, and is not expected to delay the re-opening in any way.
Foy
That must raise some eyebrows though and surely cause new concerns on the stability all along that stretch of I40.Quote:
Originally Posted by Foy
.........and that stretch of I-40 has been unstable for decades, unfortunately.
Foy
As of yesterday (23 February 2010), the NCDOT is now estimating "late April" as the reopening timeframe for I-40 on the western edge of NC. They cite the heavy snows, rains, and extended subfreezing temps as reasons for the work going more slowly than at first anticipated.
Foy
When it rains, it pours........
US-64/74 is closed by a rockslide about halfway between Cleveland TN and the TN/NC state line till the end of March. This shuts off a decent detour.
I have printed him maps from Newburgh, IN to Newport, Tn, and from Newport onto Charlotte, NC. It takes him on I40 to exit415 merging onto US25W S/US 70 coming into Newport and then US 25/US321/US 70 onto Asheville US 19/US23 to I240 to I40E toward Statesville and on. Is this a good route or him? He 20 and drives a Ford Crown Vic. Hes been to Charlotte before and knows how to get to Knoxville and knows his way from Asheville . It''s the detour replacing the Knoxville to Asheville route Ive given him that Im not sure about. Any help would be great. Time is not a factor in the trip as much as distance is. He doesn't mind stoppng to smell the roses so to speak.
Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!
By the time you try to detour around the I-40 rock slide, bypass the US-64 slide and avoid the 'goat trail' section of US-25, you would be left with something as convoluted as what you describe. While it would probably work, you might want to look at a slightly simpler solution, which although it's longer is still all Interstate. That would be to just head east on I-64 to Charleston, WV and then south on I-77 to Charlotte. At about 625 miles it could conceivably be done a day of steady driving with a good early start, especially if he's got a warm welcome waiting for him.
AZBuck
If he really wants to go through Knoxville and Asheville, take the official detour - I-81 to I-26 - unless he wants to drive on narrow 2 lane mountain roads and take the route you plotted. I wouldn't advise it after dark.
I like Buck's suggestion. Note that I-77 is a toll road in WV. Also note that it's what my mapping program suggests now, with road construction data updated. It's only 30 miles longer than I-40 would be if it were open.
ambeth22,
I couldn't agree more with AZ Buck and glc. Either the stated detour up to Johnson City, TN thence down I-26 or the I-64 to I-77 route are far preferable to your contemplated route. Of the two, I would personally favor the stated detour route as it stays at lower elevation and avoids the tolls in WV.
Foy
From a distance and time standpoint, 64/77 is considerably shorter considering your start and stop points.
Was wondering what you think would be the best route to go from Ooltewah (chattanooga) TN to Greenville NC. Google maps says I74 E from cleveland TN to Asheville NC, rejoining with I40 E there and continuing on normally. But if it's true about a rock slide on 74, that detour would not work; this true? Was thinking about 81N into Virginia then south on I77/74 to winston-salem NC and continuing on I40 E from there. Google says that's the next quickest I believe. Or should I stick to the official 81/26 detour?
That's what my mapping program suggests right now, and it has the latest construction/closure updates. 570 miles, and this is a full day's drive, figure about 12 hours with normal stops. It's about the same distance and time as I-40 all the way would be if it were open.Quote:
Was thinking about 81N into Virginia then south on I77/74 to winston-salem NC and continuing on I40 E from there.
You probably want to try and avoid Raleigh and the whole Research Triangle Park area during rush hour (4-7pm or so) if you possibly can. Plus, consider the I-540 bypass around the north side of Raleigh, connecting to US 64-264 bypass east of Raleigh, just a few miles before they divide at Zebulon and US 264 then provides open road and 70 mph speed limits most of the balance of the trip.Quote:
Originally Posted by sedman
Foy
Adding to your NC/TN Rockslide fun, add US-127 in Tennessee to the list.
The road south of Chilhowee (near Smokey Mountains NP), apparently known locally as the Dragon, is closed because of another rockslide.
And for future reference, if there are cop cars and tv crews getting video of a rockslide and you are looking at the tv crews, and not the road, you might not see the big pile of boulders blocking your path! But the tv cameras will have recorded your stupidity for all the world to see.
And if the cops and TV were already there, why had the road not been closed??
Lifey
You really got to wonder about some people -- My first thought was that the driver was drunk.
By the way, the Dragon is a very famous road -- here's an article I wrote about it a "side effect" of that road!
Mark
........but I'll guess the "first responders" had just arrived more or less simultaneous with the news camera crew and had not had opportunity to erect traffic barriers yet.
OR
....the driver was so distracted by the roadside commotion (film crew, police) he drove right through the roadblock. If he was so distracted he didn't see the rockslide itself, there's no telling what else he failed to see.
Clearly there's some sort of cosmic interference preventing travel from Tennessee to North Carolina, and vice-versa. Perhaps the Georgia and Virginia tourism agencies are executing a fiendish plot.
Oh, and I think the motorcyclists call that segment "Tail of the Dragon".
Foy
RoadTrippers;
The latest from NCDOT is I-40 is expected to reopen on 27 April, next week. It is expected both eastbound lanes will be open, but that westbounders will see single-lane travel for around 3 miles as work continues for some time to come, perhaps will into summertime.
Visit the Raleigh TV stations's website at www.wral.com for details.
Foy
It's now open. Both eastbound lanes are open, but only one westbound lane. The second westbound lane looks like it will remain closed through the whole summer.
earlier post from Agry stated that 127 in Tennessee is closed, it is actually US 129 from North Carolina to Tennessee on the western edge of the National Park. The road will be closed until July 2010 to clear a land slide. The other routes through the Park are US 441 and I-40 which is now open.
does any one know what the up date is on I 40 rock slide? Is it open yet? do they know when it will be open??
thanks,
Monty
Monty,
As per the report in post 36, the road is open with some restrictions as they continue to make good the area.