A WARNING TO TRAVELERS ON I-40 WESTBOUND: It narrows to one lane in North Carolina at mile marker 7, just before the Tennessee line. For some reason, this produces a multi-mile backup that took us over an hour to get through. Alas, the alternate route on I-26 to I-81 adds . . . something over an hour to the trip itself, so I don’t have a lot of good advice for you. You can try going via Hot Springs on the 2-lane, but that will either be faster, or much slower, depending on traffic.

UPDATE: Donald Sensing writes: “I drove from Charleston, SC, to Williamson county today, 600 miles. Knowing about the blockage, I continued on I-26 W north of Asheville, then took Hwy 25N/70W thru mountains to Newport, TN, where I rejoined I-40. Not much traffic on this route and much shorter than the I-81 detour.”