Another beautiful day on the road. Left Greensburg just before sun up. Just in Tennessee from Kentucky on I-75 the interstate was closed to oversize loads. Normal traffic was allowed through in one very skinny lane for each direction.
The following is a reprint from The Tennessean newspaper online:
Motorists with weekend plans in East Tennessee may need to find another route if they intend to use Interstate 75.
The interstate is closed at Jellico, exit 160, near the Tennessee/Kentucky border.
Tennessee Department of Transportation crews are working to repair a collapsed embankment near the southbound lanes.
According to TDOT, the earth has continued shifting under the interstate since the collapse was discovered on Thursday. Detours have been set up to protect the public until repairs can be made.
Motorists are asked to take the exit, turn left, follow Highway 25W to LaFollette, and then get back to I-75 South in Caryville, exit 134.
Wide load truckers are asked to take the Jellico exit, turn right, follow state route 297 West to state route 63 and then get back on I-75 South at exit 141.
Detour signs and message boards have been placed along the interstate and detour routes to help guide the traffic.
Let me tell you, the detour route for wide loads was really something! 19 miles of interstate was bypassed and it took 45 minutes to travel the detour. Not because it was that far out of the way, it wasn't. It pretty much was parallel to the interstate. The road was a two lane road (in very good condition) that was full of blind turns with no road shoulder. I drove between 2 and 30 mph most of the way. For most of the route, there was a minimum of three foot drop off on the edge of the road. In other places the guard rail was at the edge of the road. After I made it through the worst of it, I got out the camera and shot some video for you. As you watch the video remember that I am an oversize load and there is a trailer behind me that does not track the same as the truck. Sorry about the length of it, its about 4 minutes long.
Click on the link:
The gear grinding in the beginning was me trying to hold the camera with my right hand, shift gears with my left, and steer with my knee. LOL
That was fun!!!
Continued down to Ashville, NC. When I got to the I-40 and I-26 split the traffic was stopped on I-26 - where I wanted to go. Heard on the radio that there was a 10 car pile up on I-26 and the interstate was shut down indefinitely. There was a 15 mile back up already. I decided that was not my idea of a good time so I turned around and went back to the TA truck stop in Candler, NC for the night.
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