JONATHAN CREEK – Traffic may be flowing in both directions on Interstate 40 through the Pigeon River Gorge — albeit slower than normal — by New Year’s Day.
N.C. Department of Transportation officials anticipate a contractor completing a stabilization project securing the westbound lanes of I-40 in the gorge. The Pigeon River washed away the interstate’s eastbound lanes in four long swaths during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
The completion of the stabilization project will provide enough space for vehicles to travel at 40 mph on one lane in each direction over a 9-mile stretch of the gorge in Tennessee and North Carolina. This configuration will also provide another contractor enough room to safely complete long-term repairs over the coming years.
“We are optimistic that our contract partners can complete the work, establish one narrow lane in each direction and create a safe work zone for the long-term restoration,” NCDOT’s Division 14 Engineer Wanda Payne said. “We are working to open I-40 when it is safe, and it will be tight conditions for everybody. But if everybody is patient, everybody can get through.”
NCDOT will award a quick-tow contract to support traditional Incident Management Assistance Patrol, or IMAP, to reduce travel delays associated with crashes. This towing contract will be modeled after a similar contract that proved to be successful during the I-26 widening projects in Buncombe and Henderson counties, where NCDOT’s towing contractors are able to take quick action to reduced crashes, delays and congestion.
“Opening one lane in both directions reestablishes critical connectivity for the transport of good and services to and through mountains,” Payne said. “Like many things in our area, it will not be like it was for a long time, but it will be better than we’ve had in recent weeks.”
The Temporary Patch
Contract crews are stabilizing several thousand feet of I-40 by installing soil-nail walls on swaths cut by the flooded Pigeon River. The operation includes inserting long rods into bedrock below the road, filling those with grout adhering the rods to the rock, and spraying concrete on the cut face to hold the rods in place and create a solid wall.
As that operation concludes, crews will install a concrete safety barrier on 5 miles of the remaining westbound lanes in North Carolina. The wall will separate eastbound and westbound traffic from the double-tunnel to the Tennessee state line. For 4 miles of I-40 in Tennessee, there is a two-lane pattern for local traffic only.
NCDOT awarded an $8.5 million contract to Wright Brothers Construction for the stabilization repairs and GeoStabilization International is the sub-contractor building the soil-nail wall.
In the Long Run
Long-term reconstruction plans are still in early development.
NCDOT has hired RK&K as a design firm, Ames Construction as the contractor and HNTB as the project manager. There is no timeframe for the selection of a design, a date for start of construction or a general estimate of the cost.
“Everybody has been coming up with ideas and all good solutions are still on the table,” Payne said. “We will collaboratively choose the best long-term solution.”