Good News and Bad News about Roads

We've been monitoring the news on the I-4o rock slide ever since it happened on October 25, 2009. Here we are at the end of the month - and end of the quarter. I-40 has been closed for more than 5 months. But as of today, NCDOT is saying this:

"NCDOT estimates that it will reopen I-40 by late April when work at the October rockslide site should be completed. About one mile of the westbound lane closest to the mountain will be closed until this summer to allow crews to complete the work – including the installation of rock bolts and anchor mesh – at five additional sites."

If you want to monitor the daily news, go to http://www.ncdot.org/travel/i40_rockslide/.

That's the bad news. The good news is that the Cades Cove Loop is opening sooner than expected. My friend, Raymond Owens, reports that it's supposed to open by April 24. You can get more information about this - and about some other road openings and closings in the Smokies - at Raymond's "GoSmoky" blog - http://gosmoky.wordpress.com/.

One more piece of news. Tomorrow is April 1, and we have some April last-minute specials on our Web sites - www.SmokyMountainTower.com or www.SmokiesRentDirect.com/All-Decked-Out. No foolin'!