A rockslide Thursday evening has closed a short section of N.C. 28 South about two miles south of the intersection with U.S. 74 in Swain County. This is the section of N.C. 28 connecting the town of Franklin to U.S. 74.
NC DOT Spokesperson David Uchiyama says that at first there was just material in the road then while DOT was on the scene the slide occurred.
“I’m on the phone with division maintenance engineer and he’s giving me an update then he says ‘Gotta go! Gotta go!' So he hung up and shot video of the first part of the slide coming down," says Uchiyama.
This slide has closed N.C. 28 about two miles south of the intersection with U.S. 74 in Swain County. It is an unsafe and unstable area. https://t.co/dRSB1WOKfG pic.twitter.com/4EC6Ky6bqT
— NCDOT Western Mts (@NCDOT_Westmtn) March 5, 2020
Overnight additional material also fell so it will take at least a week for the road to be cleared. From Bryson City and the Nantahala Gorge, drivers can use Needmore Road as a detour.
“This is still an active site,” Division 14 Maintenance Engineer Wesley Grindstaff said. “Engineers assessed the area above the slide and found a sizeable crack in the slope and determined the site to be very unstable."
Commercial vehicles are always restricted from using the highway even during normal conditions.
Uchiyama says that this slide will not impact clean up at the other slide on U.S 19/74 near the Nantahala Gorge which will start on Monday, March 9.
