Crews clearing mudslide in road near Great Smoky Mountains

Published 7:46 am Thursday, February 13, 2020

GATLINBURG (AP) — Crews were working on Tuesday to clear a 70-foot-high (21-meter-high) mudslide from the Spur connecting the Tennessee tourist towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Smokies and Federal Highway Administration staff assessed the mudslide on Tuesday morning, according to a news release from the National Park Service. They estimated it contained about 500 cubic yards (382 cubic meters) of material and was about 100 feet (30 meters) long. The slide was blocking the northbound lanes of the Spur, a stretch of U.S. Highway 441 that runs over park land.

Staff estimate it will require at least 45 dump truckloads to clear the road. They were working on Tuesday with two excavators and seven dump trucks, hoping to finish the work by the evening, weather permitting.

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Northbound traffic was being detoured for about one mile.