High Risk Of More Rock Slides

Engineers say last week's rock slide in Polk County is a wake-up call and a sign of things to come, someday.

A Tennessee Department of Transportation study shows there are 21 sites in our viewing area that are at high risk of producing rock slides.

One of them is that beautiful drive up Highway 127 on Signal Mountain, among 35 in the state that TDOT engineers are most worried about. It is a section about 2,500 feet long near the 16 mile marker.

Signal Mountain resident Barb Tuttlebee said "no, it doesn't surprise me but I don't worry too much about it."

Looking at those huge boulders sticking out over the highway 200 feet up is just a way of life for people who drive this road everyday. Minor rock slides happen every now and then but are cleaned up quickly.

"Yeah, ever since I've been here, which is 70 years, I've only seen one rock on the highway and it fell off by the Old James monument," resident Charles Woodhead said.

This stretch of Highway 127 has what's called a "High-A" rating score of more than 500. That means there is a significant risk of rocks and boulders shifting and falling onto the highway, threatening motorist safety and long clean up delays.

Two other high risk sites in Hamilton County stretch along a nearly 1,500 foot section of Cummings Highway on the northern slope of Lookout Mountain.

TDOT geologists know a significant rock slide could happen at just about any time in these areas - tomorrow, next month, next year or in 100 years. They say a combination of earth tremors, widening cracks and heavy rainfall contribute to slides.

There are high-risk sites for rock slides in Bledsoe County at the 7.4 mile marker on Highway 30 north of Pikeville.

In Grundy County the danger is on I-24 in Monteagle at the 132.7 mile marker, with three other high risk sites along I-24 just inside Marion County.

There are 11 sites along Highway 64 in Polk County, from mile marker 10.7 to 17.6 that include the site of last week's slide.

In Rhea County the danger is along a 1,200 foot stretch on Highway 68 near the Cumberland County line.

And in Sequatchie County, Highway 8 at the 20.5 mile marker north of Dunlap is at risk.

Most people we talked with say they had no idea their daily drive is a risky one.

"I hadn't heard that but you know that's just the way it is, I'm not terribly concerned about it," Doug Werth said.

So what can be done? TDOT has about $2-million it can spend each year for monitoring these high-risk sites and in some cases do some work to help ease the strain on boulders. It's not that much money for managing all those sites considering the cost of cleaning up the slide in Polk County will cost at least $2.1-million.

TDOt has set up a camera to monitor the clean up in Polk County which you can watch by logging on to their website, http://oxblue.com/pro/open/tdot/us64rockslide