HARTFORD, Tenn. (AP) — Interstate 40, the major cross-country highway that snakes through the Great Smoky Mountains, has suffered another closure due to heavy rain, flooding, and a rock slide. Engineers anticipate that the road section will remain off-limits for at least two weeks.
The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon near mile marker 450 in Tennessee, close to the North Carolina border, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s social media updates.
After assessment, engineers discovered considerable damage to the highway and surrounding ramps, which was more severe than initially estimated, shared Republican Tennessee Rep. Jeremy Faison on social media.
“Several areas remain under water, and there are potentially compromised slopes. Geotechnical engineers are on-site today to assess the stability of those slopes,” wrote Faison, who represents the area.
Tennessee transportation officials estimate it will take at least two weeks to drain the water, make sure the slopes are safe and repair the highway.
The damaged section is part of 12 miles (19 kilometers) of I-40 in North Carolina and Tennessee that was washed away or heavily damaged by flooding that roared through the Pigeon River gorge during Hurricane Helene in late September.
Crews repaired and shored up enough of the old highway to open one narrow lane in each direction in March.
The lanes are separated by a curb several inches high that had to be removed to let vehicles stuck by the flooding and rockslide to turn around and go the other way.
About 2.5 to 3.5 inches (63 mm to 89 mm) of rain fell in the area over about three hours, according to the National Weather Service.
The permanent fix to stabilize what’s left of the road will involve driving long steel rods into bedrock below the road, filling them with grout and spraying concrete on the cliff face to hold them in place. It will take years.
I-40 runs from Wilmington. North Carolina to Barstow, California, and any detour around the Great Smoky Mountain section is dozens of miles. Trucks have gotten stuck on twisty narrow mountain roads and are banned on another major highway through the area U.S. 441 through Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The official detour takes drivers heading east on I-40 up Interstate 26 at Asheville, North Carolina, to Johnson City, Tennessee, and then south down Interstate 81 back to I-40.
