By Jesse Wood
Aug. 26, 2014. Folks heading into downtown Blowing Rock or passing through the village from Boone will experience delays for “several hours” on Tuesday after power lines fell across U.S. 321 and U.S. 321 Business this morning, according to Caprice Cheek of the N.C. Department of Transportation.
As of 11: 30 a.m. on Tuesday, Cheek said that a portion of U.S. 321 Business is closed near Sunset Drive and from Shoppes on the Parkway, while one lane of traffic is moving southbound and northbound on U.S. 321.
U.S. 321 was initially closed both ways. Now that traffic on U.S. 321 is moving, Cheek said motorists wanting to head into downtown Blowing Rock can enter through Sunset Drive off of U.S. 321.
While Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation is still working on the issue, BREMCO reports no power outages on its outage map at this time.
Earlier in the day, Chetola Resort was without power.
Zack Linkins, who works at Chetola Resort, said that he ran into the traffic jam at 8 a.m. this morning and ended up parking at the Tanger Outlets and walking through the park to get to work. It was that or turning around and catching up with U.S. 221 via the Blue Ridge Parkway or Flat Top Road near Appalachian Ski Mountain or Shull’s Mill Road.
“It was quicker to walk,” Linkins said.
For the most recent traffic updates on U.S. 321, call the U.S. 321 Project Hotline at 828-964-3260 or click to the NCDOT Twitter page here: https://twitter.com/NCDOT_EastMTN.
#US321 in Blowing Rock closure update: One lane open, but portion of U.S. 321B remains closed. Expect delays. Call 828-964-3260 for info.
— NCDOT Eastern Mtns (@NCDOT_EastMTN) August 26, 2014