Crews with contractor Charles Blalock & Sons Construction today continued drilling on the western side of the rockslide in the Ocoee Gorge in preparation for a series of trim blasts scheduled for Thursday, weather permitting.
Trim blasting includes workers drilling holes into an exposed layer of unstable rock, then packing the holes with explosives and detonating the charges. The blasts remove any unstable rock and leave behind a stable rock face that is less susceptible to future slides.
On Friday, the contractor plans to begin removing slide and blast debris from the roadway using a tracked hoe-ram to break up larger boulders and a track hoe to load the debris into dump trucks for hauling. The debris removal operations will begin on the west side of the slide mass and continue to the east in order to make room to extend the 275 ton crawler crane pad eastward.
U.S. 64 in Polk County is closed at mile marker 17.6 due to a major rockslide near the Ocoee 2 Dam. A portion of Little Frog Mountain slid into the roadway on Nov. 10. The project to remove the rockslide debris and repair the roadway is underway and expected to take until at least mid-January.
TDOT is providing a live look at the work underway to clear the rockslide via a time-lapse camera accessible by logging onto TDOT's US-64 Rockslide web page (http://bit.ly/1Tlc8m).
Motorists traveling to the area from Chattanooga or Cleveland should take I-75 North to Exit 60 (SR-68, Sweetwater) and follow SR-68 South through McMinn County and into Ducktown in Polk County. Those traveling from North Carolina are advised to take US-74 to SR-68 North at Ducktown through McMinn County then onto I-75 at Sweetwater in Monroe County.
Motorists may also utilize a route through northern Georgia to travel around the rockslide area. From Copperhill/McCaryville at the Georgia State Line take Georgia Route 5 to U.S. Highway 76 to U.S. Highway 411 north to the Tennessee state line and on into Cleveland.
For more information on TDOT road construction projects visit the TDOT SmartWay website at http://www.tn.gov/tdot/tdotsmartway/. Travelers may also dial "511" for up to the minute travel information. TDOT is also on Twitter. For traffic information in the Chattanooga area and updates on the U.S. 64 rockslide follow Chattanooga511 on Twitter or follow TN511 for statewide updates.
Motorists are reminded to use all motorist information tools responsibly. Drivers should refrain from texting, tweeting or using a mobile phone while operating a vehicle. TDOT advises drivers to "Know before you go!" by checking traffic conditions before leaving for your destination.