Photo courtesy of NCDOT
As a result of Hurricane Helene, the swollen river scoured the earth below the four-lane highway and washed away the eastbound lanes in several places.
Of all the roads that need fixing in western North Carolina, none will pose a bigger challenge than Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge.
As a result of Hurricane Helene, the swollen river scoured the earth below the four-lane highway and washed away the eastbound lanes in several places. The largest section, about 4 mi. from the Tennessee line, gave way around noon on Sept. 29.
Remarkably, no cars or trucks tumbled into the tumultuous river, according to the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
But the highway is closed in both directions, severing the busiest connection between North Carolina and Tennessee, used by about 26,000 drivers a day. An alternate route, Interstate 26, also is closed due of severe flooding on the Tennessee side that crumbled two bridges near the town of Erwin.
Initially, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) said the major thoroughfare through western North Carolina into east Tennessee would remain closed for up to a year as repairs were made.
However, the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen Times reported Oct. 13 that NCDOT officials have hedged their bets a little and now believe I-40, between exit 20 in North Carolina and exit 432 in Tennessee, may only be shut down until at least January, if all goes well.
The state secured Wright Brothers Construction, located in Charleston, Tenn., on a $10 million contract with incentives to stabilize the westbound lanes to open to some traffic by Jan. 4, NCDOT spokesperson Tanner Holland told the Citizen Times.
NCDOT engineers visited the damaged sections of I-40 shortly after the incident, along with officials from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT).
They returned the next day to begin to determine how they would shore up and stabilize the eroded sections, so they do not get any worse, NCDOT spokesperson David Uchiyama told the Raleigh News & Observer in an email.
But agency engineers are only beginning to try to figure out how to rebuild I-40, Uchiyama said. The two eastbound lanes are “either gone or partially gone,” he added, and there are three other damaged places spread over the next 11 mi.
“There are engineers and design firms working on long term repair plans for that stretch of I-40. About the time the shoring operation concludes, we should have a more definitive idea on how to either use the remaining westbound lanes or head straight into construction and reconstruction of those lanes,” Uchiyama told WNCN-TV in Raleigh.
The project involves driving reinforced steel nails up to 20 ft. long into the side of the gorge to prevent further erosion along four different sections destroyed by Helene.
Uchiyama explained that the road collapse cut off not only passenger travel but also severed the only commercial truck route from western North Carolina’s Haywood, Madison, Yancey and Mitchell counties to Tennessee.
Photo courtesy of NCDOT
Freeway Has Proven Difficult to Build, Maintain
It took 15 years to build the section of I-40 that connects North Carolina and Tennessee. The highway snakes alongside the Pigeon River, perched on a shelf blasted from the side of the mountains. When the road first opened in 1968, N.C. Gov. Dan Moore is reported to have said, “The genius of modern man has shown itself to be superior to the adversities of nature.”
But nature has never conceded, and I-40’s path through the gorge has always been precarious. Usually the threat comes from above, as rocks slide down the steep cliff walls onto the highway on both sides of the state line.
One such rockfall on the North Carolina side in October 2009 closed the interstate in both directions for six months, as crews cleared debris and stabilized the cliff face.
The latest incident has caused many people on both sides of the border to renew calls for relocating I-40 to a less dangerous and remote area.
One News & Observer reader noted on the Raleigh publication’s online site that the “failure-prone Interstate 40 west of Asheville reminds us that the highway’s steep and narrow route along the Pigeon River has been the scene of recurring rockslides and scouring by floodwaters since its construction in the wrong place more than half a century ago.”
The reader added, “The crucial east-west transportation artery should never have been built along the wild, jagged, remote Pigeon. Instead, I-40 should curve gently along the French Broad River valley [further to the east]. Yes, that river also flooded in Hurricane Helene, but its valley is wider, its elevation lower, and its slope more gradual, making the route into Tennessee far more accessible and repairs easier. It’s time to re-route vital I-40 more sensibly along the French Broad.”
Interstate 16 Travel Also Cut Off
During the I-40 closure in 2009, westbound drivers were encouraged to take I-26 north from Asheville to I-81 at Johnston City, Tenn.
Now, however, that is not a viable option.
Helene’s heavy rains also caused floodwaters to knock down twin bridges that carried I-26 over the Nolichucky River in Erwin, about 40 miles from the North Carolina line.
Mark Nagi, a TDOT spokesperson, told the News & Observer that no timeline has yet been scheduled for when those structures will be rebuilt and reopened.
For now, Raleigh-area motorists wanting to travel between the two states are being advised to go west toward Knoxville and Nashville via I-40 to Statesville, N.C., where they can access northbound I-77 to I-81 west near Wytheville, Va., and onto the junction with I-40 near Dandridge, Tenn., well north of the roadway collapse site.
Drivers leaving Charlotte are advised to take U.S. 321 north to I-40 west to U.S. 25/70 in Asheville and north through the mountains to I-40 just west of Newport, Tenn. A lengthier alternative for Charlotte residents, although it is interstate all the way, involves accessing I-77 north to I-81 and onto I-40 westbound.
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