It could take up to three months to completely clear debris on Interstate 40 after a rock slide early Sunday morning closed the highway in both directions at mile marker 3 in Haywood County, according to officials with the N.C. Department of Transportation. The slide happened about 2 a.m. near the Tennessee border. The large boulders crashed through mesh fences designed to stop smaller rocks, said Joel Setzer, a division engineer with N.C. DOT. Rock bolts, which the pin rock blocks into more stable rock, now poke through the massive pile of debris.
I-40 rock slide at mile marker 3 in the Pigeon River Gorge. 10/26/09--Bill Sanders
It's tough to determine” the cause of the rock slide, but Setzer said the freeze and thaw of recent rains could have contributed. Some water rushed down the rock face near the slide, and other areas of rock were visibly wet from the westbound lanes of the highway Sunday afternoon. Without the preventative measures of fencing and rock bolting, a “more significant” rock slide could have occurred in this area earlier, he said.
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