As a part of ongoing infrastructure repair efforts in Western North Carolina after Tropical Storm Helene devastated the region on Sept. 27, the U.S. Department of Transportation has announced it will provide over $352 million toward repairs to Interstate 40, Interstate 26, the Blue Ridge Parkway and roadways owned by the U.S. Forest Service.
“Hurricane Helene devastated communities and cut off critical road infrastructure, and our department is committed to helping repair and rebuild local infrastructure in order to support the impacted area’s long-term recovery,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a Jan. 13 news release on the funding. “The emergency relief funding we’re announcing today will continue this important work and provide vital aid to the communities and states that have been impacted by this disaster.”
After the North Carolina Department of Transportation recently announced that an additional section of I-40 slipped into the Pigeon River Gorge in December, pushing off the reopening of the troubled stretch of highway indefinitely, a vast majority of the funding — $250 million — will go just to NCDOT efforts to perform eligible repairs to I-40. The Tennessee Department of Transportation will receive $70 million to perform eligible repairs to I-26 and I-40.
The flooding damage caused by Tropical Storm Helene is not the first time that I-40 along the Pigeon River Gorge has seen significant closures from environmental damage. Over the past 50 years, the road has been closed numerous times after rock slides took out portions of the westbound lanes. In that time, the TDOT and NCDOT have undergone major maintenance efforts to maintain and adjust significant areas of cut slope along the westbound lanes, where the rock slides are more likely to happen.
The Blue Ridge Parkway will also receive $25 million of the “quick release” U.S. DOT funding. The North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management estimated in December that reconstruction costs along the parkway could cost between $514 million to $1.1 billion.
“The Federal Highway Administration is working closely with Tennessee, North Carolina, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service to ensure all roads and bridges are operational and made whole again to restore mobility for residents and businesses and support the region’s economy,” said Acting Federal Highway Deputy Administrator Gloria M. Shepherd in the release.
An additional $7 million will go to “removing downed trees, making temporary roadway repairs, and removing overhead hazards and other debris from roadways and bridges to provide safe travel along various routes in impacted National Forests,” the release said.
The new funding comes from the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief program, which already provided $167 million to the NCDOT and TDOT for Helene recovery efforts. The funds are “an initial installment of funds toward restoring essential transportation links to states, territories, tribes, and federal land management agencies for highways and bridges damaged by natural disasters or catastrophic events,” according to the release.
Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Consider supporting this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.