ROANE COUNTY, Tenn. — Riggs Chapel Road is undergoing nearly $2 million in repairs after February's historic rain caused dangerous rockslides that are still going on.
That road sees nearly 1,500 vehicles each day. It's a connector between Harriman and Morgan County used for daily commutes.
No one is trapped because of this closure, and there are two other ways around. But it's still causing a lot of headaches.
RELATED: Roane County faces nearly $6 million in flood damage, pushing state toward FEMA aid qualification
Roane County Road Superintendent Dennis Ferguson said it could be closed for more than a year, but the timeline isn't set.
The Roane County Highway Department is getting a lot of complaints from people upset about this closure.
It may be because when you first start driving down the closed portion of Riggs Chapel Road, everything seems fine.
That is, until you look up.
For about a third of a mile, rocks are falling off the mountainside and onto the road -- creating a dangerous driving hazard. Those rocks range from brick-sized to boulders.
Ferguson said it's gonna take time and money to stop rocks from sliding onto the roadway.
"We'll probably end up having to cut this bank back, this mountain back 50 feet to move the road over to have a new road," he said.
They've already started drilling holes to find where the sturdy rock is under the roadways because they'll have to redo those, too, after several dips and cracks broke the road.
"This is the biggest devastation that Roane County's ever had like this," said Ferguson.
As bad as Riggs Chapel Road is, it's not the only road in the county needing over a million dollars in repair.
Roane County is dealing with about $8 million in road damages from the flooding.
"It started out being one, two, three slides, four slides, roads caving in, one today," said Ferguson. "I mean, it's just like every day something new."
As the highway department works to fix the roads, they ask for patience. Ferguson said people are bringing their own chains to move the concreted chained barricades they put up.
Not only is that illegal, but it's dangerous. There are other ways to get around that don't put drivers at risk.