I-40 west of asheville closed

[ken56]

Rockslides has closed I-40 in both directions for a week in Haywood County NC at mile markers 7.5 and 20 near the TN/NC border. Check your travel plans and reroute accordingly. Rain has the ground saturated and rockslides are happening all over the place.

441 through over the mountain is closed at this point too but it says till 3pm. New Found Gap road has been closed off and on all week long. Check before you try to take this way

[kyhawk]

We survived our trip to Maggie Valley with no problem. We were delayed about 15 minutes going east Friday about 3:00, and about 5 minutes going west Wednesday about 9:00. It may be worse on other days or different times.

[ken56]

Still one lane in both directions. All traffic was shifted to the eastbound lanes so it could be slow at times. Are you towing a trailer and could you possible go through New Found Gap in the park? Its a task for an experienced mountain driver to tow over the gap so err on the side of caution.

[kyhawk]

Are there any changes in the status of I-40? We have to travel from Knoxville to Maggie Valley soon (and back), and wonder if we need to expect a long delay.

[ncscz]

NC DOT had a news conference today at noon. They will be opening 1 lane each direction as of 2PM today. Best estimate as of today is that 2 lanes in each direction will resume the 1st week of April.

[Merrykalia]

CharlesinGA wrote:
Probably some spectacular waterfalls now though. NC is home to hundreds of waterfalls.

https://www.wncwaterfalls.info/

Charles

I live about 1 1/2 hrs away and you are right, there has been so much rain and flooding, but most of the pictures of waterfalls I've been seeing on our local news, the water is usually pretty muddy, but abundant

[CharlesinGA]

Probably some spectacular waterfalls now though. NC is home to hundreds of waterfalls.

https://www.wncwaterfalls.info/

Charles

[ken56]

What they clean up this week might not hold. The ground is saturated and rock slides are continuing to occur. Not necessarily on I-40 but the potential is there for more slides anywhere along the roads, including the road itself giving way. This is a very serious situation here and people need to heed the warnings. 4 more days of rain are predicted starting on Thursday. The ground can't hold much more water.

[Merrykalia]

kohldad wrote:

I just read that I40 will be closed for 8 weeks.

Entire road closed for about 1 week while they do the initial cleanup and put the concrete dividers in place. They will also erect temp protection along the middle divider. Once this is coplete, then they will be able to open 1 lane in both directions. This will be in place for about 8 weeks (initial estimate) while they stabilize the area. Since all this was small size debris, the estimate is probably pretty close. However, one time they estimated 8 weeks and it took them 6 months before they had both lanes in both directions open.

I'm going through the area in about a week in a TC and think I'm just going to take the longer but easier route of I26 to I40 though I know a dozen ways across the mountains between I26 all the way down to Tail of the Dragon (Hwy 129).

You may know many ways across the mountains, but in the area, there are a long list of roads that are closed because of landslides. It's not just I-40, which has a long history of slides. I-26 to I-40 is open with no problems....at the moment. We are expecting more rain this coming week and then some freezing temps.

[kohldad]

I just read that I40 will be closed for 8 weeks.

Entire road closed for about 1 week while they do the initial cleanup and put the concrete dividers in place. They will also erect temp protection along the middle divider. Once this is coplete, then they will be able to open 1 lane in both directions. This will be in place for about 8 weeks (initial estimate) while they stabilize the area. Since all this was small size debris, the estimate is probably pretty close. However, one time they estimated 8 weeks and it took them 6 months before they had both lanes in both directions open.

I'm going through the area in about a week in a TC and think I'm just going to take the longer but easier route of I26 to I40 though I know a dozen ways across the mountains between I26 all the way down to Tail of the Dragon (Hwy 129).

[ken56]

Not surprised. Things are so saturated here that it will be weeks before they know what has been undermined and is unstable. Keep an eye on the DOT sites for info.

[narcodog]

I just read that I40 will be closed for 8 weeks.

[ken56]

The Pigeon River gorge is a very pretty drive. I remember years back a mother and her young son were killed by a bolder falling onto the roadway and crushed the car. Tragic.

441 over the mtn is still close today, 2/24, too till 8pm it says.

[kohldad]

Wasn't there a rockslide that closed it before like within past 5 years or so?

There have been a number of closings since it opened. The design engineers fought the route as they knew of some of the challenges to begin with but the politicians won. Only during the consruction did the engineers realize it was much worse than they thought and have had to come up with new ways to stabilize the ground. If the engineers knew then what they know now, they would have refused to allow the road to go through the area as too risky, not maintainable.

It was the number of rock slides in the gorge that made the extension of I26 to I40 a much higher priority so there is a "reasonable" alternate interstate route when they have to close it.

[ACZL]

Wasn't there a rockslide that closed it before like within past 5 years or so?