Polk commuters face long hauls

Hundreds of Polk County motorists have seen their work-day commutes double in the wake of last week's rock slide that closed U.S. Highway 64.

"It's really hurting everyone in the whole entire area," said Keith Dilbeck, who lives in Ducktown, Tenn., but commutes to work in Cleveland. "But it was just a matter of time before this happened."

Mr. Dilbeck, who works as a tax assessor in Bradley County, said he'd been watching a crack in the mountainside on U.S. 64 grow larger week by week for the past year. That crack gave way into a massive slide on Nov. 10.

Now, his commute has doubled -- now about 75 miles a day -- and his gas expense will climb to nearly $300 a month, he estimated.

Mr. Dilbeck and others drive about 90 minutes each way every day to navigate to points west of Copperhill and Ducktown. Residents who commute south to North Georgia have seen an increase by about six miles and 10 minutes.

Tennessee Department of Transportation officials said it will take no less than two months and $2.1 million to clear the massive rock slide. State officials admit the closure is a burden.

"We realize this is a major inconvenience for the people in the area," said TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely, speaking at a Monday news conference. "We want to do everything we can to get the (road) open, but safety is our primary concern."

Contractors spent Tuesday and Wednesday surveying the still-unstable mountainside, TDOT spokeswoman Julie Oaks said. They have removed some vegetation, which will make the work safer, she said.

Crews plan to first remove unstable rock by cranes, then loosen other potentially dangerous rock with small explosions before installing 40-foot bolts into the rock, then clearing and repairing the underlying roadway.

In most communities, detours like the one around the rock slide might not be such a problem, but most estimates suggest that 70 percent of Polk County residents commute for work outside the scenic but economically distressed county, according to Jan Cheek, who worked in Polk County with the Tennessee Department of Labor for 33 years. She now is serving on a citizens advisory committee studying an alternate route to U.S. 64.

For years, residents have decried U.S. 64 as dangerous and inconvenient. Many want a second route, but government estimates put the cost somewhere between $550 million and $1 billion for a four-lane replacement -- a long-discussed plan known as Corridor K.

However, some think the recent rock slide bolsters their case for an alternative route.

"As bad as this might sound, we hope this rock slide helps," said Doug Collins, a Ducktown city commissioner who commutes to work in Cleveland. "Our community has been very active in trying to get this new route."

SLIDE DETOUR

TDOT's recommended detour route from Chattanooga and Cleveland toward Copper Basin or McCaysville, Ga., is north on Interstate 75 to Exit 60 at Sweetwater, then south on State Route 68 to Ducktown. From North Carolina, take U.S. 74 to Ducktown and go north on SR 68.

WATCH THE CLEANUP

The Tennessee Department of Transportation is providing a live look at the work to clear a major rock slide on U.S. 64 in Polk County. A live time-lapse camera is now available on TDOT's U.S. 64 Rock slide Web page: www.tinyurl.com/TDOTCam