Work continues on rockslides
SPRING CITY, Tenn. — Storms, traffic delays and material deliveries have slowed repairs to slide damage in State Route 68’s ascending lane through Shut-In Gap in Rhea County.
Tennessee Department of Transportation officials still hope to reopen both lanes in July to relieve the work site bottleneck for motorists traveling between Grandview on the Cumberland Plateau and Spring City near Watts Bar Lake, said Jennifer Flynn, spokeswoman for the state agency.
The project began in April after what started out as a crack in the pavement became a landslide when heavy rains weakened and washed out the earth under the outside lane. And continuing rain doesn’t help.
“[A]lthough the contractor (GeoStabilization International LLC) is making progress on SR-68, these frequent severe showers have slowed progress,” Flynn said via email.
“Also, when they opened the road to one signal-controlled lane, progress was pushed back because the
contractor now has to deal with traffic when doing certain work, such as getting materials delivered,” she said.
Trucks hauling materials to the site must wait through a line of traffic, taking turns with oncoming traffic to use the single lane, then when the delivery truck’s turn comes, the lane must be shut down for the duration of the delivery.
Flynn said that since one lane was reopened, TDOT has gotten fewer complaints from motorists.
“Even having to wait at a traffic signal is better than the lengthy detour that they were having to take when the road was closed,” she said.
The contractor is using a technique called “soil nailing,” referring to long, steel “nails” driven into the earth at an angle and then grouted into place to provide support underneath the road, according to officials. The technique also is being used on two other repair projects in the region.
A drive up the mountain on Highway 68, as with many roads on the Cumberland Plateau, reveals a number of slide repairs made over the years as the roadway lost battles to the mountain and water. As drivers approach the work area, a temporary traffic signal greets them at each end. The signals are on a timer that alternately lets traffic go in each direction.
At one point last Tuesday afternoon, a delivery halted traffic for almost half an hour.
Meanwhile, two other repair projects are continuing in the Chattanooga region, one on State Route 50 in Grundy County and another on State Route 30 in Van Buren County.
The work in Van Buren County is related to a slide that happened near mile marker 16 on State Route 30, a couple of miles west of the intersection with State Route 101, said Ken Flynn, TDOT Region 2 director of operations. He is also Jennifer Flynn’s husband.
“What occurred was the outside edge of the road dropped down — most likely due to water infiltration of the fill slope,” Ken Flynn said. “It has been an ongoing problem for several years but got bad enough in early May that we had to close it to one lane with signal control.”
There’s no estimate on when that work will be completed, he said. GeoStabilization International is the contractor for that project, too.
A section of State Route 50 between Pelham and Altamont in Grundy County had similar problems over a similar period of time until the beginning of the month, Ken Flynn said.
“About the first of June it dropped over a foot in one night. Our crews patched it, and the next night it dropped another 6 inches or more,” he said.
“TDOT Maintenance continued to monitor and patch the area while waiting on delivery of temporary traffic signals,” he said. “Once they received the temporary traffic signals, they installed them and closed the road to one lane.”
Ken Flynn said the closure took place June 11 or 12. GeoStabilization International has submitted a repair plan to TDOT, and engineers with the state agency’s Geotechnical Engineering Section have asked for a few revisions and clarifications to the plan. TDOT officials are waiting on the revisions before repair work begins.
“We don’t have an estimated date for completion,” he said.
Jennifer Flynn said all three routes are important for travelers. State Route 68 links Spring City to Crossville in Cumberland County and is the most heavily traveled of the three, she said.
State Route 30 in Van Buren County, besides serving local traffic, is one of two main highways leading to Fall Creek Falls State Park. And State Route 50 in Grundy County is the only direct state link between the town of Pelham and the county seat of Altamont.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@times freepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook. com/benbenton1.