PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. – Tennessee transportation officials say it could take at least a month to clean up two rock slides and stabilize a hillside along a busy Smoky Mountains road.
The Knoxville News Sentinel quoted Tennessee Department of Transportation spokeswoman Julie Oaks in reporting the time expected for the project to take, beginning with the current engineering inspection and including letting an emergency contract,
A slide on the section of U.S. 441 between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg on Monday was being cleared when more rocks tumbled down and a member of the cleanup crew was injured.
Southbound traffic has been rerouted to one of the northbound lanes around the closure.
Traffic on U.S. 441 has increased in recent months as some drivers use the road as a detour around a major rock slide in October which closed Interstate 40 at the Tennessee-North Carolina border.
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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com