Checked with a friend in the know: if they had to, they might travel southeast on 321 via Lenoir to Charlotte, but all Western Carolina roads are considered closed by NCDOT to non-emergency traffic, including everything around Blowing Rock and northern Caldwell County. Best to stay put if they can.
Also when NCDOT says “all roads in western nc are closed” people with bsky accounts stay home or don’t post
It's TNDOT and not NCDOT, but I remember when the southbound lanes of I-75 slid off the top of the mountain there in TN just south of the KY border, it took a year to completely fix, but they had a temporary work around up and running pretty quick.
Two important things for everyone to remember right now: 1) Given that this flood was, in the Asheville area at least, record-breaking, we don't have a good picture of what the damage is like beyond "bad". 2) Given that, the NCDOT tends to follow the Scotty rule and put repair times way out ahead.
That's most likely a placeholder- the damage isn't *that* severe from what I've heard, NCDOT as of last night was talking about it taking weeks to open it back up, not a year.
Driving west on I40, the NCDOT has electronic signs notify drivers that the interstate is closed to all traffic except emergency vehicles starting at I77 (which goes north/south in the state). If that is the cutoff for 'western part of the state', then it is a full 1/3 of the state closed to traffic
Been sitting outside for the most part of the night due to service being decent vs the house. Update that the water station has shut down due to the massive flooding and NCDOT instructed us not to drive anywhere. Super bored, so anyone mind slipping a smexie pic to help out? 👀🤤 Ty in advance! 🥰