Rockslide in NC near Tennessee shuts Interstate 40

i live here in greeneville and i for one know its quicker to take exit 23 on 81 run us 11e through town and when you pass walmart turn right at the next red light then go all the way to the end of 107 turn right on hyw 81 and it dumps you outon 26 in erwin.....takein exit 23 sure beats takein exit 52 i thank cant rember if its 52 or 57 any way and havein to fight johnsosn city traffic.......i always came home this way when i drove for prime and picked uip at charrlote pipe

 

I live and drive locally in the Asheville, NC area and the rock slide story has been one of the top stories every day here in western NC. The "official" report of how long the closure will be is 4 months until ONE lane eastbound and ONE lane westbound will be open. That is their current prediction on the local news here tonight in Asheville.

They showed video of truck drivers trying to use US 25/US 70 which are a bad idea if you are thinking of taking a "shortcut" from the "official" detour trying to shave mileage and time off of your trip. State police stated they will start issuing tickets to truckers attempting to use these dangerous two lane mountain roads tomorrow (10/31/09). I haven't looked in my atlas to see if these are restricted routes, I'm just repeating here what state police stated on the news tonight.

I have driven up US 25/70 in my CAR and parked at pullouts to go hiking on the Appalachian Trail and other trails, but haven't seen big trucks on this road until I saw them lined up in the video today on the news! Unbelievable!

VALUABLE PIECE OF INFO: Since they are stating 4 months of detouring through this area I hope this will help some drivers reading this out if not many. When traveling I-26 westbound and you merge onto I-240/26 toward Asheville, you will go about 3 miles before you get right at downtown and take the I-26 west ramp. SLOW DOWN!!! You will have to merge LEFT across 4 lanes of traffic in 1/4 mile to continue on I-26 (Weaverville exit). The exit ramp is 2 lanes merging from the right into 5 lanes and the NEXT EXIT for I-26 is a LEFT EXIT.

We went this way in the car last night at 8 p.m. on our way to dinner, it is still highly congested in this short stretch with all the detoured truck and car traffic. It's not a big delay at all, just a short 1/4 mile stretch you have to be careful with in downtown Asheville when heading west and taking the detour. I hope this helps anyone out wanting more detailed info.

 

According to the atlas US 25/70 is a restricted route.

 

its restricted on the NC side. tn you can take it all the way up to the NC line but then your in no mans land.

 

the other shortcut is not restricted though hwy 81,hwy 107,11E, to 81.....70 has some serious switchbacks on the tn side cant remember the nc side.......i thought only 53' was restriced?

 

According to my atlas, it's restricted on the TN side too.

 

i know we have milk trucks go that way at least 2 sometimes 3 times a day

 

Justsaying what's in the atlas. Says it's restricted from US321 to the NC state line. Local deliveries may be exempt?

 

i wasnt tryin to say u were wrong i didnt know if it had length info atlas aint looked in a while aint real sure were they go either

 

I would say it is not a STAA route, meaning 53X102 can not go over it. There may be more local restrictions, and those would be posted at the beginning of that route. If there are no restrictions other than no 53s or 102s, then a 48 X 96 would be fine.