Driving through "The Gorge" in North Carolina
Themeparkfanatic Themeparkfanatic
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 Published On Oct 9, 2011

This is a edited video of my trip through "The Gorge" in my truck. It should be noted that my truck has a flat spot on the dashboard which allowed me to set the camera down there so I could keep both hands on the wheel. I strongly discourage people holding a camera while shooting a video and driving at the same time.

Now that I've said that, here are the facts. This video was shot going westbound on Interstate Fourty (I-40) from west of Lake Junaluska, NC to the Tennessee border. The video was 33 minutes long and was edited down to 17 minutes with no music and no narration, the only sounds you hear are that of a truck driving with the windows down.

The History: this area is part of the Eisenhower Interstate System which was approved by President Dwight D Eisenhower in the 50's. Construction on this segment began in 1956 and was completed in the 1960's. It contained, for a while, the only tunnels on the Interstate Highway System west of the Mississippi River until the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76 & I-70/76) was added to the Interstate System. This area has seen several major rock slides over the years. In 1985, a rock slide closed the westbound side near the mouth of the tunnel (where the large wall is now in the video), then in 1996, a rock slide forced the closure of the highway for six months, and then a rock slide on October 25, 2009 forced the closure of the highway for another 6-8 months. That last rock slide occured near the Tennessee line where the large wall with plants is now. This road is a pretty treacherous stretch of highway during the winter as well as it does get very icy. The center divider looks very scarred in some spots as you may be able to see.

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