Again we have another rock slide on Highway 64 which runs through the Ocoee Gorge. They claim it will take at least three weeks before the road is again open for traffic. Ambulances and emergency vehicles will have to go the long way around via Tellico Plains again.
If this had happened when I was in the U.S. Navy Sea Bees we would have hauled more rocks, gravel and dirt and built a road up and over the existing rocks and would have the road open in a week at the most. The rocks already there would help prevent another rock slide.
Someone ought to install road signs which read, "Unsafe road.....travel at own risk." How long before another rock slide? Next time someone might be hurt. What is it going to take before we get a new road through the Gorge that is safe for us to travel? Are the Snail Darters and wild flowers more important than
lives?
Max Payne
Copperhill, Tn.
maxpayne@etcmail.com