Engineers have established a $2 million to $10 million plan to clean up a rock slide on Interstate 40 near the North Carolina-Tennessee line. The state Department of Transportation said unstable rocks will be removed first and then large boulders will be blasted into smaller pieces. Rocks removed from the side of the mountain and pieces of blasted boulders will be used to construct a ramp up to the top of the slide, which is 150 feet high and 200 to 300 feet wide. A pulley system will be installed on the ramp to climb to the top of the slide and remove rock. Crews will work from the ramp removing rocks top to bottom. Workers will chisel off rock and continue blasting to stabilize the area. 
This aerial photos of the I-40 rock slide near the Tennessee -North Carolina border were taken by pilot Lester Bishop of Hendersonville.
The general idea for the cleanup is to blast the debris from the top so that it falls down the sides of the slide area and not straight ahead across the eastbound lanes into the Pigeon River, said Joel Setzer, the regional engineer with the state Transportation Department. After debris is cleared, temporary asphalt will be laid, followed by permanent asphalt in the spring. Officials have estimated that workers could take up to three months clearing the interstate in a steep section of the rugged Pigeon River Gorge.
The general idea for the cleanup is to blast the debris from the top so that it falls down the sides of the slide area and not straight ahead across the eastbound lanes into the Pigeon River, said Joel Setzer, the regional engineer with the state Transportation Department. After debris is cleared, temporary asphalt will be laid, followed by permanent asphalt in the spring. Officials have estimated that workers could take up to three months clearing the interstate in a steep section of the rugged Pigeon River Gorge.
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