Bailey Way has reopened. The private road that washed out this week, cutting off the only way in or out for 11 west Blount County homes, was reopened Sunday after two local excavating contractors donated a full day of labor and equipment to restore emergency-vehicle access.
West Blount Fire & EMS said it was notified that the road had completely washed out, leaving the community without reliable emergency access. Because Bailey Way is a private road, the County Commission had no authority to perform the repairs - the same jurisdictional gap that has left the road’s past washouts unresolved for weeks at a time. Jarred and Bobby Jones of J&J Excavating stepped in without hesitation, donating their time, equipment, and expertise to reopen the road - even though the work fell on Jarred’s son’s third birthday.
West Blount Fire & EMS Board Chairman Marty Stover worked alongside Jarred and Bobby throughout the day as they made the repairs and reopened the roadway.
“Your willingness to help when it mattered most is a reminder that protecting our community takes all of us,” West Blount Fire & EMS said in a statement thanking the pair, on behalf of the department and the residents the road serves.
The road has washed out in the same spot before, including roughly three years ago, when neighbors say a sick woman couldn’t be reached by ambulance during that closure and was evacuated by golf cart; she later died. Because Bailey Way is privately owned and maintained, the cost of a permanent fix still falls on the households along it - several of whom can’t afford to contribute. It’s not the first time neighbors have had to rely on donated help rather than a public fix: after the previous washout, a local contractor donated fill and rock as a stopgap rather than leave the road impassable.
If you have information about ongoing access issues on private roads in west Blount County, let us know.