Archive for the ‘Mount Pisgah’ Category

More road closures on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Blue Ridge Parkway officials have just announced another multi-month road closure between Asheville and Mount Pisgah.

Beginning November 1, 2010, and continuing into early spring 2011, the Parkway will be closed from Milepost 399 at Pine Mountain Tunnel to Milepost 405 at NC Route 151. Due to dangerous conditions in the work zone, all traffic by foot, bicycle, and motor vehicle will be prohibited.

The project includes stabilization work on a failing hillside near Milepost 400.

Detour routing is as follows: For southbound traffic, follow NC Route 191 to NC Route 280, interconnecting to US Route 276 in Brevard and back to the Parkway south of Pisgah Inn. The detour can be taken in the opposite direction for northbound traffic.

Parkway travelers should also be aware of another repavement project near milepost 465 that will cause a few delays next week.

A project to reconstruct pavement in the Sherrill Cove Tunnel at Milepost 466 and the Rattlesnake Mountain Tunnel at Milepost 465 will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, November 1, 2010. Pavement reconstruction will involve milling the pavement surface and repaving through the tunnel. Milling and repaving, replacing centerline and edge striping, installing pavement markers, and other related repairs will require the tunnels to operate under one-lane flagmen controlled traffic for the entire week of November 1-5, 2010.

Reconstruction work is expected to be completed and the tunnels open to traffic by Friday, November 5th.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in Asheville, Mount Pisgah, Rattlesnake Mountain Tunnel, Sherrill Cove Tunnel, blue ridge parkway, road closures | Comments Off

Hiker rescued from Mount Pisgah after fall

Sunday, June 6th, 2010
The Asheville Citizen-Times is reporting that a hiker was rescued yesterday after falling on some rocks near the base of a television tower on Mount Pisgah.

A call came in around 2:15 p.m. reporting that a hiker had fallen from the WLOS-TV tower and was still clinging to it, according to emergency scanner traffic. Once on the scene, however, rescue crews learned that a man in his mid-70s had hiked to the base of the tower and fallen on some rocks, Upper Hominy fire chief Steve Hensley said.

Hensley said he did not know the man’s name or how far he fell, but said he was unaware of any injuries other than some shoulder pain. The man was hiking with a group of people and one of the other hikers provided first aid until help arrived.

The accident happened about 1.5 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway over rugged terrain. Crews used a tram used by WLOS to access the tower to move the injured man to an ambulance in Haywood County, Hensley said.




Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Posted in Mount Pisgah, TV tower, WLOS, fall, hiker, rescued | Comments Off

Stretch of Blue Ridge Parkway to be closed until July

Saturday, March 20th, 2010
The Asheville Citizen-Times is reporting that a landslide that occurred on the Blue Ridge Parkway back in October will keep that section of road closed until July.

The landslide occurred near Ferrin Knob Tunnel No. 1, which is about six miles uphill from the parkway's interchange with N.C. 191 in Bent Creek, between Asheville and Mount Pisgah.

The target date is July 1 for opening one lane in that slide area, said Michael Molling, the parkway's chief maintenance engineer. The second lane should open around Sept. 1.

The slide area is about 300 feet long and 200 feet high. In addition to earth and rock falling onto the roadway, large fissures have appeared in the parkway pavement because of slope movement, Molling said.

Detour routes:

> For southbound traffic from the Asheville area, take NC Route 191, NC Route 280, and US Route 276 to the Parkway.

> For northbound traffic near the Mt. Pisgah area, take US Route 276, NC Route 280, and NC Route 191 to the Parkway.

Elsewhere on the parkway, workers have started the massive task of clearing thousands of felled trees, debris and lingering snow left behind on the road by the harshest winter to hit Western North Carolina in a decade.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Posted in Asheville, Ferrin Knob Tunnel, Mount Pisgah, blue ridge parkway, landslide | Comments Off