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As 10 News reporter Lauren Lovett has highlighted, an almost 60-foot section of the eastbound lanes of I-40 fell due to the severe aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which wreaked havoc in the area through extreme flooding. While plans had been made to redirect traffic using the westbound lanes starting January, this incident has now pushed their timeline back indefinitely.
Transportation officials from both Tennessee and North Carolina are addressing the ramifications of the collapse. It was noted that engineers had detected a crack in the road on the previous Monday, prompting the installation of a monitoring device. Unfortunately, by Thursday, this device and an entire section of the interstate disappeared, sloughing off into the river below.