The Mountaineer

Perdue wants Washington to help pay for $10M cleanup

Gov. Bev Perdue declared the Interstate 40 rockslide an emergency Wednesday hoping the federal government will pick up the bill for what could be as much as a $10 million clean up, repair job. 

Efforts began immediately to assess the massive pile of rocks ranging from garage-size boulders to small stones that is completely blocking the eastbound lanes and partially covering westbound lanes about three miles inside the Haywood County line. Officials said Wednesday there is no clear timeline for how long the project will take.

The slide was reported around 2 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, and has closed the route to all travel.

Perdue said officials are working as efficiently as possible to reopen the road to traffic.

“The bottom line is we’ve got to do it safely and efficiently,” she said.

Approaching the massive pile of boulders, many larger than the Governor herself, Perdue, who prior to Wednesday had only seen pictures of the destruction, said it takes seeing the slide in person to really grasp its enormity.

“It’s big,” she said repeatedly upon first seeing the mess. “Now the important thing is to get it cleaned up so we can reopen the road.”

Perdue toured the site Wednesday afternoon with NCDOT Secretary Gene Conti, N.C. Commerce Deputy Secretary Dale Carroll and other officials, including Reps. Ray Rapp and Phil Haire.

Conti said department of transportation engineers are still drafting a plan for the repair. Preliminary work includes surveying the area to identify where additional sliding may occur and ensuring the area is secure before work begins.

“We have no interest in delaying the process more than necessary,” said Conti.

Officials are working to get at least two lanes of traffic open as soon as possible, he said.

NCDOT division engineer, Joel Setzer, said engineers must first establish safe “home bases” along the slope from which they will work to restore the mountainside before cleaning up the pile of boulders blocking the roadway.

“Right now, we’re looking at it from a safety standpoint,” he said. “We’ve figured out what we need to do, now we’re (determining) how to make it safe. …Removing massive rocks and doing it safely presents a huge challenge. As we speak, heavy machinery is coming in from Montana, New York and Vermont, equipment that is specific for dealing with rockslide mitigation.”

Based on initial estimates, the project could cost between $2 and $10 million, Setzer said during an earlier interview.

Perdue hopes the federal government will foot the bill. The governor signed an emergency declaration Wednesday morning, which “ordinarily” means the federal government will cover 100 percent of costs, she said.

Meanwhile, commerce leaders will focus efforts on making sure all know that Western North Carolina is still open for business.

Carroll said Wednesday the state will participate in a cooperative marketing campaign, underpinned with federal and state funds, aimed particularly at advertising travel to the western part of the state and promoting the colors of fall currently on display.

“The key message is that (Western North Carolina) is still open,” said Carroll.

Acknowledging a “spectacular leaf season,” Perdue said letting people know that Western North Carolina is open is a top priority, second to establishing a safe clean up plan.

“Regardless of what it costs, we have to fix this and reopen the road for commerce…We’re going to do it as (cost effective) and efficiently as we can. That’s the goal,” she said, later adding, “It’s not going to happen overnight.”

Perdue said she also toured the site of a 1997 slide in the same area along I-40, but “this one is enormous. It seems more severe.”

The governor learned of the slide and saw pictures of the destruction while on a trip to China, from which she returned late Tuesday night, but said she didn’t truly grasp the magnitude until seeing the slide in person.

“In pictures it looks big, but not huge,” she said. “This is huge.”

That said, Perdue pointed out how much worse the devastation could have been if the slide had occurred during the day, when the volume of traffic is much greater.

Instead, the slide was reported around 2 a.m. Sunday. Three vehicles were hit with falling rock, authorities said, but only minor injuries were reported.

Lisa Radford, a claims adjustor for John Christner Trucking of Sapulpa, Okla., said a driver for the company was eastbound on I-40 early Sunday morning when his truck hauling frozen cookie dough was struck by a rock.

“From what the driver told me, he didn’t know if it was the fog or dust from the actual rockslide, said Radford, who explained it was the company’s policy to not release the name of their drivers or allow them to be interviewed. “The driver felt the impact of the rock and called the highway patrol.”

The driver was sore from the accident, but not injured, Radford said. The entire truck was totaled, with the estimated loss at $30,000. The frozen dough was transferred to another trailer and the delivery was only a day late, she added.

The company is seeking an answer as to whether the state will cover the loss.

DOT public information officer Steve Abbott said, generally insurance investigators will file a torte claim with the local DOT office, who reviews the claim and sends it on to the attorney general’s office to determine if DOT is liable for damages.

This situation is a little different because the hillside that failed is owned by the forest service. If the attorney general’s office determines DOT is not liable, Abbott said, efforts will have to be made to determine who else may be.

“Basically, there’s as lot of paperwork coming up,” he said.