NEWPORT, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee transportation officials said work to clear a rock and mud slide along Interstate 40 near the North Carolina border is set to begin.
Department of Transportation spokeswoman B.J. Doughty said Thursday that a contract has been awarded and work was expected to begin later in the day.
Phillips & Jordan of Knoxville was awarded $59,000 to break up and remove rocks that slid onto the westbound emergency stopping lane of the highway on Tuesday. All traffic headed west was detoured because an overhanging rock was in a precarious position.
Doughty described it as a car-sized rock holding up a house-sized boulder.
She said officials anticipate reopening the westbound lanes Monday. Eastbound travel is not affected.
Westbound commercial traffic is making a 55-mile detour over Interstate Highways 26 and 81.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
