Likely 2 Weeks Until Rain-Damaged I-40 Section In Cocke County Reopens

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The Center Square [By Kim Jarrett] –

A portion of I-40 in Cocke County damaged in rock slides on Wednesday will not reopen for another two weeks, state officials said Thursday.

Four rock slides took place on the highway near the North Carolina border, said Will Reid, chief engineer for the Tennessee Department of Transportation. It happened after 2.5 to 3.5 inches of rain fell in the area in a two-hour period.

The slides and flooding left motorists stranded but all of the vehicles except for one were moved as of Thursday afternoon. No injuries or fatalities were reported, state officials said.

Now that the water is diverted, state officials are focused on repairing the roadway.

“One of the things we are looking at is the stability of the geology here,” Reid said. “A lot of the overburden, the dirt that was on top of the rock, has slid off the side of the mountain. “We’ve got to get that cleaned up and then access the rock underneath, as well as the county road that’s above that.”

The estimated repair cost is $500,000 but that could change, Reid said. The Transportation Department has immediate access to funding for road repair thanks to the passage of the Transportation Modernization Act by the General Assembly, he said

“We’re not dependent on another federal agency to go to work,” Reid said. “We can go to work right now.”

The town is a big draw for whitewater rafters who want to take on the Pigeon River. Those sites are still open and visitors are encouraged to come, said Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby.

“Our county depends on the rafting and the people coming through here,” Faison said.

It’s deja vu for Cocke County residents and motorists who will take the same detours as they did when Hurricane Helene damaged the road in September.

Cocke County Mayor Rob Mathis said the community’s “ears were still ringing” from eight months ago when the storm swept through.

“When that first call went out, it was immediately like, ‘oh, no, not again,'” Mathis said. “But then within a half second of that it was, ‘Ok, let’s do this.'”