Threat of rock slide forcing traffic reroute

Mountain debris blocked road, then 2nd risky area found

Friday, December 8, 2006

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

Motorists on U.S. 321 near Blowing Rock should expect delays for at least several days while workers remove a section of mountain slope that's in danger of falling on the road, a state Department of Transportation engineer said Thursday.

The road was blocked by a rock slide Wednesday and Thursday about a half-mile south of Blowing Rock, said Kip Turner, district engineer for N.C. DOT.

Workers had cleared the debris from that slide on Thursday but then realized that another slide was possible.

"They spent time scouring the adjacent slope and decided that another very large chunk of rock looked imminent - that something's going to happen with it," he said.

Now, DOT officials plan to remove rock slope, he said.

Coincidentally, one of the companies working on the U.S. 321 expansion project, only a few miles from the site of the rock slide, specializes in removing rock slopes like the one that threatens the road, Turner said.

Representatives of the company will inspect the slope today. The job could take days, or longer, he said.

Meanwhile, authorities were directing traffic through one open lane around the endangered area with a pilot car. The car leads a line of traffic in one direction and then returns, leading a line in the opposite direction.

Delays on Thursday were 15-25 minutes, he said - and they could be even longer during busy traffic times, such as weekends, when tourists and shoppers flock to Blowing Rock and Boone.

On Saturday, traffic is likely to be even heavier than normal because of an Appalachian State football game in Boone, he said.

Turner urged motorists from Charlotte, Hickory and other points south to use U.S. 421 in Wilkes County as a detour.

"There's a lot of traffic that's headed to the mountains this weekend, so I can really see a lot of traffic backing up," he said.


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