Bolts To Be Installed At I-40 Site Of NC Rock Slide

Bolts to be installed at site of NC rock slide

The Associated Press

Posted: Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Crews continue to work to clear a rock slide from a closed portion of Interstate 40 near the North Carolina-Tennessee border and are trying to keep any more boulders from falling on the highway.

North Carolina Transportation Department officials say crews assembled rock bolts as long as 130 feet in length Monday. A helicopter is scheduled to arrive Tuesday to take the assembled bolts to the top of the mountain.

The bolts will be installed this week and should shore up the mountainside. Six bolts will be installed initially so DOT engineers and inspectors can check them out. A total of 590 bolts will be installed.

I-40 has been closed in both directions since the rock slide Oct. 25. Crews say the highway could reopen in March, depending on the weather.

That's been a bad spot for years. I used to go back to KY on that route but I now go I-64 just because that area of I40 is horrible.