It is a big college football weekend as the Gamecocks are heading to Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Volunteers and a great time to head to the mountains.
But getting there may be a bit more difficult. Crews have begun working and it's now estimated that last weekend's rockslide on I-40 in Haywood County will take 4 months to clean up.
With the direct route now blocked, a detour has been put in place, adding about an hour to your travel time.
Normally, if you were traveling from Spartanburg, you'd get to Knoxville via I-40 from I-26 in Asheville in 2 hours 52 minutes according to Google Maps.
The route the North Carolina Department of Transportation wants you to take will keep you on I-26 through Johnson City and then get on I-81 to I-40 to Knoxville. Google Maps estimates that will take you about an hour longer at 3 hours and 45 minutes.
If you want to try and cut that time, take I-26 to Weaverville and Route 321 and take that to I-40 to Knoxville. Google Maps estimates that to take 3 hours and 31 minutes.
There are signs posted once you cross into North Carolina alerting you to the detours, but people are still getting off at the last exit on I-40 before the rockslide. When they do this, they have to head back to Asheville which is 26 miles away.
NCDOT officials tell us the problem with many of the alternate routes is that they are windy, narrow country roads and with traffic they could add hours to your trip.
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