One note on the record cold weather: Look for more rock slides this spring

Jason Sandford

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

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The massive rock slide that shut down Interstate 40 at the North Carolina-Tennessee state line last year is far from being cleaned up. It’s costing taxpayers millions for the Department of Transportation trucks and crews to haul off the rock and stabilize the mountain. And it’s costing Western North Carolina’s tourist industry millions more in terms of business lost to people who don’t think they can get to us, or just don’t want to bother with it.

It’s a scene we’ll likely see replayed this spring. This cold weather, which is already doing a number of Asheville water lines, is certainly working on the mountains, tightening everything up. When things warm up this spring, everything will loosen up. That cycle, over time, cause rock slides.

We’ll see.