ONLY ONE LANE is-OPEN; ONLY TO LOCAL RESIDENTS---NO "THRU TRAFFIC"; AND ONLY TWICE A DAY AT CERTAIN FIXED TIMES...DETAILS WILL BE POSTED FOR MOTORISTS   

NC GOVERNOR COOPER INSPECTED THE SLIDE A FEW DAYS AFTER IT HAPPENED     

FROM EARLIER REPORTS:   

Highway 9 in Bat Cave is still set to re-open on Friday...partially and within set hours. Nathan Tanner, who is an engineer with NC DOT, tells WHKP News there is still work to do clearing that massive landslide near the intersection with Shumont Road that brought over 100 thousand cubit feet of material down off the mountain and onto the road in this spring’s heavy rains and mudslides.

Tanner tells WHKP News the plan is still to open one lane of Highway 9 this Friday, but that will be for local, mostly commuter traffic, only. And because of the work that is still to be done, the current plan is to have that one lane open only two times each day: once in the morning, probably in the 7 to 9 AM time frame...and once in the late afternoon.

Times and other factors will be clearly posted for local motorists.

Blasting has been done at the top of the slide thie week to get remaining rocks out of the way and hauled off to the waste sites, and Tanner says there is still az lot of material to be removed.

So contractors will be continuing to do that work even as the one lane is opened up.   

Tanner emphasizes that the road will NOT be open to “through traffic” on Friday...but open only to people who live in that area and who need the road to get to and from work and who have been commuting as much as fifty miles out of their way since the slide blocked the road..

Tanner said the slope would be closely examined on Thursday to be sure it’s safe to open that one lane on Friday...but those “timed” restrictions will apply on Friday.

He says the plan right now is to have all the slide material removed and the slope seeded for vegetation by early August. Rainy weather is making it difficult to give an exact date for completing the project, said Tanner.

Once all the material is finally removed from the highway there will be some guardrail work to do and some re-paving and striping will have to be done to finish repairs on the road.

But one lane, for local motorists only, at certain fixed times...will be open on Highway 9 in Bat Cave, at the site of tat massive landslide near Shumont Road on the back side of “Rumblin’ Bald Mountain”, this Friday.

At yet another mudslide site, this one on Grant Mountain Road between the Barnwell community and Highway 74, NC DOT says it is open again. In fact both lanes of Grant Mountain Road are open where that slide occurred, but NC DOT is continuing to do work there and motorists can expect flaggers at the site.

By WHKP News Directyor Larry Freeman with Tippy Creswell