Massive Rock Slide Collapses Tunnel on Interstate Highway

A heavily traveled interstate tunnel cut through a mountain collapsed before dawn today under a landslide of tons of rocks that narrowly missed two trucks, authorities said.

All four lanes of the Interstate 40 tunnel were blocked, and one official said it could be two weeks before any lanes are reopened and up to six months before all the debris and massive boulders are removed.

Rescue squads frantically dug into the avalanche of rocks and debris thinking one of the trucks was trapped inside. But the driver later reported he was safe.

“We’ve confirmed that there’s nobody in the tunnel,” said Verlin Edwards of the state Transportation Department. “A truck that we thought might have been trapped arrived safely at its destination. It’s lucky no one was hurt.”

The tractor-trailer rig was seen going into the quarter-mile tunnel on Interstate 40 just before the landslide, which occurred at about 4:50 a.m. after a heavy rain. The rocks collapsed a 100-foot stretch of the tunnel and blocked the entrance.

Falling boulders clipped the front bumper of another truck that braked in time to avoid the collapse in an area called “The Gorge,” about four miles from the Tennessee border, authorities said.