TDOT personnel and contract crews began work Thursday to repair a section of SR-68 near log mile 5 in Rhea County that is currently closed due to a slide that occurred earlier this week. The work is expected to take approximately four weeks to complete. The road will remain closed to through traffic as the repairs are underway.
Recent wet weather caused a portion of SR-68 that connects Spring City in Rhea County to Crossville in Cumberland County to become destabilized and slide down the slope, closing the road. The site of the slide is approximately three miles north of U.S.
27 in Spring City.
The repair work will be done using TDOT forces and crews from GeoStabilization International, LLC (GSI) under a statewide on-call maintenance contract for soil nailing and slope stabilization.
During the work, loose material will be removed from the slide area and the remaining slope will be stabilized using soil nailing. Soil nailing is an on-site soil reinforcement technique where soil nails are placed into the natural ground at relatively close spacing to increase the strength of the soil mass. As the bars are being drilled, grout is inserted into the hole to ensure that the soil nail stays put.
After the slope is stabilized using the soil-nailing method, the contractor will construct a retaining wall to further reinforce the area, drainage improvements will be made, the entire area will be backfilled with new material and the roadway will be rebuilt.
Message boards are posted notifying the public of the closure and detour routes will be signed.