Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
So far today, everyone has been repeating the same basic news: That Interstate 40 is completely closed at mile marker 3 in Haywood County near the North Carolina-Tennessee line.
News outlets offer some other basic information, such as a Google map, or suggested detour routes. And everyone is saying the rockslide could take weeks to clean up.
How will this story unfold? We’ll have to watch and see, but here’s my guess:
– Somebody will be working today or tomorrow to get aerial photos/video. The pictures will tell the story.
– How much money will the clean-up cost taxpayers? How much did the 1997 slide cost? (By the way, it kept Interstate 40 closed for two months.
– How much will the rockslide cost in terms of lost tourism dollars? How is the Western North Carolina tourism industry going to repond? Will it help out by advertising “we’re still open” and help travelers find their way around?
– I remember how detours around the 1997 rockslide forced traffic through small towns in Haywood County, and how all that traffic had both positive and negative impacts.
– Following the ’97 rockslide, the Asheville Citizen-Times looked into how the state Department of Transportation engineered Interstate 40 through the mountains of Western North Carolina. I don’t recall there being any findings of serious mistakes, but there’s no doubt we’ve had lots of rockslides over the years that have impacted the road. Maybe the newspaper could update those reports?
Meantime, what information would you like to know?
Links:
Charlotte Observer rockslide story.
News Channel 7 rockslide story.
Associated Press rockslide story.
WRAL rockslide story.
The glass is half full.
Fall "leaf peepers" can still get to Buncombe County easily via highways from the north, east, south, and WSW (from Chattanooga via Murphy and Franklin, which is a beautiful route).
I realize there will be truckstop business lost in Haywood County, but there will be gains in that business in Madison County.
When it comes to the web, when you have a company that doesn’t dedicate efforts to the web, such as Sinclair, you won’t have things posted as quickly. WLOS has no web person, it’s up to the producers and other staff, who have multiple things on their plate, to post to the web. Could it be that the producer had more pressing items on their plate, like getting the info, getting crews to the scene, and taking phone calls?
Stations like WRAL, WSOC and others actually dedicate staff to just producing web content so posting is their only priority. Of course they will have things posted quicker.
Sure the local papers and tv news covered it and sent reporters and photogs. I believe the point being made here is how poorly the Citizen-Times and Channel 13 covered this a major breaking local news story on their own web sites.
There is no doubt that both WLOS and the Citizen-Times did a poor job in covering this on Sunday.
Hey Glenn, I betting Eric gets his news from the World Wide Web….he clearly doesn’t understand how news is distributed, but he does understand urgency in Breaking News situations,,,,,FACT: WLOS did not have a picture of rock slide until after 6pm…..that’s a problem. Eric, am I right?
Eric: You are completely wrong and, bless you heart, have no idea what you’re talking about. Did any news outlets from Raleigh, Charlotte or the Upstate go out to the scene Sunday? Nope. Did WNC news organizations, like WLOS the Citizen-Times and the Mountaineer go to I-40 that day? Yes. Your criticisms are unfounded and not particularly original. Way to go!
Eric is absolutely right. All WLOS had Sunday afternoon was a scrolling banner and paragraph that basically stated there was a rockslide on I-40. Pitiful, pitiful. Keep up the good work Ashvegas, you’re our best source of local news.
We noticed that too. There were no pictures on the web sites of either the CitizenTimes or WLOS TV until very late in the afternoon yesterday. Hard to believe a big regional story like this that will be of interest to so many people, especially locals, would not get more and better news coverage by the local paper and tv station. Very poor indeed.
They needed at least a picture on their website well before 6pm Sunday! Do they not have the ability to do that?
I would agree their ONLINE content was not good enough!
Yes, WLOS and the Citizen-Times finally got around to posting more information and some pics of the rock slide but, it was late afternoon before this updated info appeared on their sites. I kept going to WLOS and the C-T web sites during the afternoon and there was nothing other than alert than I40 was closed due to the slide. The other media outlets were way, way ahead of Asheville’s media. Typical of how poor our local newspaper and tv news channel are in covering breaking news. Guess they were all sleeping in on Sunday morning. Great work local journos!
If you would check out WLOS’s web site, you will see that they have video up and was live out there yesterday afternoon. Also, the rest of the stations listed didn’t cover it, they just took video or pictures from either WLOS, the ACT or from one of the Knoxville Stations or papers.
Hey Dave, please explain more? I am not totally sure what you are referring too….is it the coverage….the broadcast…or online content of WLOS and CT. What is it that they didn’t do? P.S. Those TV Stations from Raleigh and Charlotte got their video from WLOS and WSPA’s helicopter. Just curious! What would you have liked to have seen the local media do….. I’d like to know?
Uh, did any of you Citizen-Times/WLOS haters actually go to the C-T web site or watch WLOS? Or did you really think the links posted here was the only coverage out there? Good thing none of you are reporters.
The story, including video, was on the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt tonight.
I will be one of those resposible for the mitigation. The slide is almost too large to take in with a single photo. The ’97 slide was different in that there was a large amount of soil that made it easier to ramp up and bring the whole thing down. This is all rock, surrounded by rock, so the access will require a significant and dangerous amount of construction. The cleanup will be fairly easy to estimate, the access will take some time. I suppose a decent analogy would be to have to eat a large roast with your hands tied behind your back…large and difficult to get started.
As far as the construction of this route, you can notice the difference in blasting practice between I-40 and the Beacatcher cut or I-26 north of Mars Hill. It was the practice in ’64 to production blast through these things rather than the surgical type blasting of today. This left lots of damage. The geology is also textbook for generally terrifying rock type and geometry. I have led students from all over the world through this section to study highly obvious examples of geotechnical problems. Although I confess that it is a great deal of fun to race through the gorge, always watch your ass. Always-
Thanks for the correction, Phan. Thanks for the comments, all. I haven’t done any reporting – just wondering how story will unfold, and how it could unfold in a manner that’s fresh.
Leave it to Ashvegas to do a better job of reporting on this than either the local paper or television station. The only pictures I’ve seen are from Charlotte’s
http://www.wncw.com
http://www.wcnc.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=18683&location=www.wcnc.com
One small correction. Small towns in Madison County (such as Hot Springs), not Haywood, were primarily affected in 1997 as traffic used US 25/70 as a detour. Haywood was largely unaffected by traffic that time.
Remember, too, that I-26 was not opened through Madison County in 1997. While a long detour, it is a much more efficient detour for trucks and other vehicles.
WBIR TV in Knoxville had pics some time ago. Looks very serious and sounds like the interstate will be closed for a long time. It’s not just getting the huge rocks off the highway, its about making sure the surrounding hillside is safe and won’t produce similar slides in the future. This will be a huge engineering project and will cost NC taxpayers millions. It could not have some at a worse time for fall leaf peepers. Like somebody said earlier, I’m guessing this will actually help the Tennessee side in terms of tourism in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
I’d like to know where the Citizen-Times and WLOS are in covering this story. Funny that we have sources from the Upstate, Raleigh, Charlotte and Knoxville on this important story, but so far, not much from our great local journalists. Pitiful.