Heads up on road closure/slowdown

[djh3]

I was doing som planning for a trip here in a few weeks. I was at the Tenn DOT site and a warnig flashed up. There was some kind of land slide in Tenn on I-75 and the road washed out. Last night it said there was one lane open each direction now. Expect long back ups. Mile marker 141 to 144. I know we dont like to run the slabs but sometimes its a necessary evil.

[meach]

I was at a family gathering in Knoxville this past weekend and my son who lives just south of the slide was showing me some pictures taken from the air that were recently published. When looking at the pictures you see some of the construction vehicles at the bottom of the slide area, they look like toys in comparison. Looks like the entire mountain just fell away. Gonna take months to fix this one, and they were just about to complete repair from a previous slide.

[rickardracing]

I went through there this past Saturday doing our Saddle Sore 1000. South bound was closed just inside Tennessee. They routed us off at exit 160 Jellico onto 25W going through LaFollette and back onto I-75 at Caryville. Traffic moved decent. It was around 3:30 in the afternoon. Nice winding road. I do not know if it is still closed or not, but northbound was open with one lane. I had stopped at a AAA office Friday and they said it was open one lane both directions. They were wrong.

[djh3]

Yup sort off what I was thinking. The DOT is recomending big trucks and general traffic to take whatever road runs paralel and right side (going south so west side of I-75?) Looks like a State Hwy 297 maybe. I am going to opt for Hwy 9/US 25w. It goes to the other side, more twisties and comes out @ Caryville exit 134 on I-75. Plus side is if they are sending the big trucks the other way should leave more room for us right?

[rickardracing]

Yup sort off what I was thinking. The DOT is recomending big trucks and general traffic to take whatever road runs paralel and right side (going south so west side of I-75?) Looks like a State Hwy 297 maybe. I am going to opt for Hwy 9/US 25w. It goes to the other side, more twisties and comes out @ Caryville exit 134 on I-75. Plus side is if they are sending the big trucks the other way should leave more room for us right?

 

When we went through there was a semi right behind us. Regardless, with the amount of traffic that was on the road, your only going to go just so fast. Plus as twisty as the road is, your not going to break any land speed records. Plan on it taking about an hour in the by-pass.

[djh3]

Well I just checked in on the Tenn DOT site. They say they have 2 lanes going north open and one south now. I may have it backwards but at any rate its open. So I gues we dont have to by pass unless you want to.