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Rusted Culvert Produces 30-Foot Sinkhole at Tanger Outlet Entrance in Blowing Rock, Temporary Driveway Through Grassy Field Planned For Tuesday Re-Opening

By Jesse Wood

June 17, 2013. The shops at Tanger Outlets in Blowing Rock are closed today because a culvert that runs underneath the entrance to the shopping mall rusted and caved in along with a portion of the above median.

This morning, excavators were pulling out bushes, shrubbery and concrete curbing that were swallowed into the hole. Heidi Ellis, general manager of the shopping mall, said the incident occurred at 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning.

Crews from Greene Construction and JW Hampton Company were onsite working at noon. Skip Greene, president of Greene Construction, estimated the hole to be 30-feet deep and said the culvert “just rusted and caved in.”

While no timeline on when the repairs will be complete was given, Ellis said plans were being made to re-open on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. by running a temporary driveway through a grassy field beside the entranceway off of U.S. 321. 

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The grassy field where the proposed temporary driveway will be located. Photos by Jesse Wood

 

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Photo by Jesse Wood