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I-40 in North Carolina

Started by wdcrft63, February 25, 2023, 06:30:38 PM

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The Ghostbuster

Nothing comes cheap nowadays.


cowboy_wilhelm

#251
Nothing new here, but some recent footage of the I-40 repairs along the Pigeon River. A one year contract for towing and recovery was just awarded with a start date of January 6, so I think the New Year's Day opening will be missed by a few days. That contract may be extended for two additional one year periods. As they said in the video, "that bottleneck will be there for some time to come."


bob7374

Another slide on I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge has delayed 2-lane opening indefinitely:
https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2024/2024-12-20-i-40-gorge-delay.aspx

Plutonic Panda

I saw this video from PBS. Towards the end, the narrator claims permanent repairs are going to exceed $50 billion. Am I hearing that right? Maybe they just need to build a tunnel. But 50 billion can't be right.


webny99

Quote from: Mapmikey on October 04, 2024, 11:21:52 AMUS 25-70 is not that bad for car traffic...

Sorry for bumping an old post... How is US 25-70 for trucks? Is it serviceable or are they better off taking the longer I-26 to I-81?

Revive 755

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on January 02, 2025, 09:11:38 PMI saw this video from PBS. Towards the end, the narrator claims permanent repairs are going to exceed $50 billion. Am I hearing that right? Maybe they just need to build a tunnel. But 50 billion can't be right.

It sounded to me to be for repairs for more in the surrounding area than just I-40.  $50 billion might be enough for a complete new terrain replacement.

I-55

Quote from: Revive 755 on January 02, 2025, 10:24:52 PM
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on January 02, 2025, 09:11:38 PMI saw this video from PBS. Towards the end, the narrator claims permanent repairs are going to exceed $50 billion. Am I hearing that right? Maybe they just need to build a tunnel. But 50 billion can't be right.

It sounded to me to be for repairs for more in the surrounding area than just I-40.  $50 billion might be enough for a complete new terrain replacement.

For how much NCDOT builds new terrain alignments with a $5 billion annual budget I can barely fathom what $50 billion would build. They're already on sandbox mode, how far could they go?
Transportation Engineer
Let's Go Purdue Basketball Whoosh

edwaleni

Quote from: cowboy_wilhelm on December 13, 2024, 07:42:57 AMNothing new here, but some recent footage of the I-40 repairs along the Pigeon River. A one year contract for towing and recovery was just awarded with a start date of January 6, so I think the New Year's Day opening will be missed by a few days. That contract may be extended for two additional one year periods. As they said in the video, "that bottleneck will be there for some time to come."


All that required terrain "pinning" the engineer was referring to is exactly why the original road assessment *didn't* want to use Pigeon Gorge. The report noted that the slope quality in this gorge was poor with a mix of rock and soil that was too malleable and subject to rock slides and other movement.

Based on how our European highway departments deal with these kinds of washouts....they clear out all of the loose rock and soil and build a reinforced concrete wall into the river/creek to force the water movement away. Then fill the remaining area inside the wall with a mix of gravel types and sealers with drainage included.

Judging on how much permit grief CSX is getting to rebuild the Nolichucky Bridge, I can't help but wonder if NCDOT will take a shortcut and not be so extensive in its remediation. Soil nailing and shotcrete won't mean much if they cant get the water redirected farther away from the embankment.

Plutonic Panda

Forgive me somehow I missed that video was posted here.

PColumbus73

Quote from: edwaleni on January 02, 2025, 11:21:40 PM
Quote from: cowboy_wilhelm on December 13, 2024, 07:42:57 AMNothing new here, but some recent footage of the I-40 repairs along the Pigeon River. A one year contract for towing and recovery was just awarded with a start date of January 6, so I think the New Year's Day opening will be missed by a few days. That contract may be extended for two additional one year periods. As they said in the video, "that bottleneck will be there for some time to come."


All that required terrain "pinning" the engineer was referring to is exactly why the original road assessment *didn't* want to use Pigeon Gorge. The report noted that the slope quality in this gorge was poor with a mix of rock and soil that was too malleable and subject to rock slides and other movement.

Based on how our European highway departments deal with these kinds of washouts....they clear out all of the loose rock and soil and build a reinforced concrete wall into the river/creek to force the water movement away. Then fill the remaining area inside the wall with a mix of gravel types and sealers with drainage included.

Judging on how much permit grief CSX is getting to rebuild the Nolichucky Bridge, I can't help but wonder if NCDOT will take a shortcut and not be so extensive in its remediation. Soil nailing and shotcrete won't mean much if they cant get the water redirected farther away from the embankment.

Sounds like they would get more for their money if they rebuilt it as an elevated highway, think the Linn Cove Viaduct or the H3 in Hawaii.

WashuOtaku

Quote from: PColumbus73 on January 03, 2025, 08:27:54 AMSounds like they would get more for their money if they rebuilt it as an elevated highway, think the Linn Cove Viaduct or the H3 in Hawaii.

Neither were cheap and took many years to complete.

Plutonic Panda

Quote from: WashuOtaku on January 04, 2025, 04:16:26 PM
Quote from: PColumbus73 on January 03, 2025, 08:27:54 AMSounds like they would get more for their money if they rebuilt it as an elevated highway, think the Linn Cove Viaduct or the H3 in Hawaii.

Neither were cheap and took many years to complete.
Good infrastructure is not cheap and doesn't get completed quickly.

Chris

Google Earth (the stand-alone computer program, not the satellite view in the browser version of Google Maps) has updated satellite imagery of the Pigeon River Gorge, dated November 25, 2024.

It provides a good view of the extent of the damage, as most press photos appear to be from only one of the locations.

There 17 sections where I-40 collapsed into the river. 5 on the Tennessee side, and 12 on the North Carolina side.

These are the ones on the North Carolina side:
























ZLoth

FWIW... a time lapse video taken a few weeks before Helene:

Don't Drive Distrac... SQUIRREL!

cowboy_wilhelm

WLOS reports that repairs should be finished in mid-February, but reopening can't occur until a full geotechnical assessment is completed to ensure the roadway is safe. The current estimate is reopening sometime in the spring.




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