NCDOT officials call for US64 closure to fix area around Bridal Veil Falls
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US64 will be closed from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day from March 29 to April 16 so North Carolina Department of Transportation crews can repair a damaged drain pipe and eroded bank near Bridal Veil Falls. Traffic will be detoured to Buck Creek Road while the work is being completed.
North Carolina Department of Transportation officials have decided to close a portion of US 64 near Bridal Veil Falls from March 29 to April 16 to do emergency road repairs.
The highway will be completely closed to traffic from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day and will operate in a one-lane pattern with a traffic signal overnight for the duration of the operation. The one-lane pattern will remain in place April 2–5 for Easter weekend.
Traffic will be detoured on Buck Creek Road while US 64 is closed. Drivers heading east from Franklin will turn left onto Buck Creek Road and follow it for 11 miles until the intersection with US 64 east of Highlands. Drivers heading west from Highlands will take US 64 east out of town and turn left onto Buck Creek Road. All drivers should factor extra time into their travels.
“These repairs need to be made in order to secure the structural integrity of the road,” NCDOT Division 14 Maintenance Engineer Wesley Grindstaff said. “It’s necessary to limit the possibility of long-term damage to the highway, and it’s necessary for the safety of visitors and residents in the area.”
The news of the US 64 closure comes just days before the NCDOT is scheduled to begin milling and repaving Main Street in Highlands. That work is set to begin on Monday, March 15 and run through March 25.
The repaving of Main Street will be done block-by-block each night with milling operations taking place in the evening and paving being completed the following day. Each block of Main Street is scheduled to be closed for 24 hours, depending on weather.
“There is a lot of road work on the horizon and it is desperately needed,” Highlands Mayor Patrick Taylor said. “The US 64 closure to fix the road near Bridal Veil Falls is not connected to the Main Street repaving, but those projects will essentially run consecutively over a span of a month.”
Heavy rains from Hurricane Zeta in October damaged the drainage pipe under U.S. 64 that carries water from Bridal Veil Falls under the highway and washed away material supporting the road surface.
NCDOT crews will remove the broken pipe and install a new pipe under the roadway. They will also rebuild the slope below the road by building a new embankment one stone at a time. NCDOT officials have developed a plan with the U.S. Forest Service to limit impacts on the forest below the road.
“Rebuilding the slope will be very tedious work in very tight quarters,” Grindstaff said. “Instead of dumping stones, each stone will have to be passed from excavator to excavator one at a time. Crews will work as safely and efficiently as possible to have the road safely open to full capacity as soon as possible.”
Drivers are asked to use caution while utilizing the Buck Creek detour and to use NC 106 as another alternate route to alleviate potential congestion.