BAT CAVE, N.C. — State transportation officials say it will be until the end of July before workers can clear a landslide which has closed part of a North Carolina highway.
[RELATED: No word when North Carolina landslide-blocked road to reopen]
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports the North Carolina Department of Transportation says it has awarded a contract to a Robbinsville company to clear the 110,000 cubic yards of dirt and rock that slid onto N.C. Highway 9 and blocked the road in on June 5. The target date for the road to reopen is July 27.
The slide is about a mile north of U.S. 74-A near the Buncombe-Henderson county line. While it covers about 100 feet of roadway, it's created a 50-mile detour.
An NCDOT spokesman says beginning last week, workers have been on site from sunrise to sunset daily including Father's Day.