NCDOT: Full extent of damage to roads in Western NC won’t be known for a while

Posted by Admin October 1, 2024 Sports

The N.C. Department of Transportation says it doesn’t know yet how many roads need repairs in Western North Carolina after last week’s storm, because of the extent of the flood damage and the mountainous terrain.

The department’s travel alert page, drivenc.gov, lists more than 400 roads closed or impassable due to the remnants of Hurricane Helene, but that’s a fraction of the challenge ahead. The landslides, washouts and missing bridges are so numerous and many in such hard-to-reach places that the department can’t yet account for them all.

“There are places we can’t get to,” said spokesman Jamie Kritzer.

NCDOT has more than 1,600 employees from across the state and dozens of contracting companies working to clear debris and make repairs. The Florida DOT is sending help, including portable bridges to temporarily connect places cut off by the flooding.

NCDOT still says all roads in the western part of the state should be considered closed and used only for emergency travel. It has reopened Interstates 26 and 40 south and east of Asheville for people evacuating the area, and Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday morning that westbound I-40 would reopen later in the day.

At a press conference in Asheville late Monday, state Secretary of Transportation Joey Hopkins urged people to avoid traveling through Western North Carolina for the time being.

“We don’t want you here if you don’t live here and you’re not helping with the storm,” Hopkins said.

Swannanoa residents walk through devastating flood damage from the Swannanoa River on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. The remnants of Hurricane Helene caused widespread flooding, downed trees, and power outages in Western North Carolina.

NCDOT crews are still assessing the damage to roads and bridges, but the department says it’s clear some repairs will take months. NCDOT says it will focus on reopening interstates and U.S. and state highways, and providing access to communities that have been cut off, before getting to state-maintained secondary roads.

The most challenging repair will be to I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge, where the eastbound lanes collapsed into the river in several places near the Tennessee line. An alternative route west, I-26, is also closed at the state line because of flooding and washed out bridges near the town of Erwin, Tennessee.