Asheville News

Rock slide in Haywood County closes Interstate 40 at NC/Tenn. line

Jason Sandford October 25, 2009

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

This is not going to be good four the tourists trying to get here easily.

A massive rock slide has shut down Interstate 40 at the Tennessee-North Carolina state line. The slide happened around 3:00 a.m. Sunday about 3 miles inside Haywood County, North Carolina.

Authorities say one woman is reported to have suffered a minor injury when the Jeep she was driving was hit by a falling rock.

Traffic from Knoxville to Asheville is being diverted onto Interstate 81 to Johnson City, then onto Interstate 26 to Asheville. Authorities say drivers can also take Highway 25-70 from Newport into North Carolina.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation web site says they expect that section of I-40 will remain closed for at least several weeks.

That stretch of Interstate 40, which winds through extremely rugged terrain, has been prone to road-closing rock slides over the years.

In the summer of 1997, a slide just inside the state line completely closed I-40 for more than two months.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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4 Comments

em October 26, 2009

please have better signs about detour routes…added 2 1/2 hours to our trip home to greenville, sc from tennessee…glad the trees were beautiful. had to back track an hour that could have been avoided, and sat still for 30 minutes.

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Carole October 26, 2009

Hwy. 81 to Johnson City is not a good detour, as my husband and I went this route when the 1997 rock slide occured. It is way, way out of the way. Going south via Atlanta is by far the better way. Just go some of the smaller roads also, if you don’t want to go the south route, as this time of year is beautiful with the leaves turning.

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Randy Dowdy October 25, 2009

I hope they will tackle this aggressively. Often it can be cleared quicker by using explosives, but it is more expensive. I have seen no pictures of it, but it must have been a huge slide. Maybe they can work from both ends and speed things along. We can only hope.

Randy Dowdy Providence NC

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Ray October 25, 2009

This will have a tremendous impact on tourism in Asheville and surrounding areas. It could not have happened at a worse time as the fall colors are peaking and many businesses depend on this season.

As the news media spreads this news in the coming days, I expect significant cancellations and far fewer visitors to our area. Interestingly, this will likely help the Tennessee side of the Smoky Mtns with places like Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge picking up visitors who would have crossed into NC.

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