The North Carolina Department of Transportation says it will re-open one lane of Interstate 40 in Western North Carolina in each direction at 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon. A 20-mile stretch of the road from exit 20 in North Carolina (state route 276/Jonathan Creek Road) to the Tennessee state line has been closed since a rockslide occurred at milemarker 7.5 Friday evening.
Interstate 40 won't fully re-open for around another six weeks as crews will continue to do work in hopes of preventing future rockslides according to NC DOT. Before the two lanes could re-open today, a 500-foot area near Hurricane Creek needed to be stabilized following Friday evening's slide, which occurred during a multiple-day stretch of heavy rainfall in the region.
NC DOT warns motorists delays will be heavy on I-40 until the road is fully re-opened. For real-time traffic conditions on the road, residents can check the website DriveNC.gov.
