Twenty-six days after Hurricane Helene brought devastating floods to the area, the North Carolina and Tennessee transportation departments are charging ahead with a long list of road repairs, including two Tennessee bridges that were destroyed by floodwaters on state highways. 

In Tennessee, the state’s first progressive design-build (PDB) contract was awarded Oct. 2 to Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. to expedite the replacement of two bridges destroyed by floodwaters. Both bridges, on State Route 107 in Greene County and State Route 81 in Washington County, are scheduled to reopen in June 2025.

The Tennessee Dept. of Transportation notes that its utilization of the PDB method—also used by the Florida Dept. of Transportation in its project to rebuild Sanibel Causeway following Hurricane Ian—is being made possible by the state’s Transportation Modernization Act. 

Survey and design are underway, as is site cleanup and removal of bridge pieces in the right of way, TDOT says, with construction expected to begin in January 2025 with both bridges open to traffic in June 2025 and final project completion in August. 

Additionally, repair plans are taking shape along Interstate 40 between Tennessee and North Carolina, which remains closed after multiple landslides and washouts, including on the North Carolina side, where the swollen Pigeon River completely washed away two of the four lanes on the state’s busiest highway. 

The North Carolina Dept. of Transportation has awarded a $10-million contract to Wright Brothers Construction, alongside subcontractor GeoStabilization International, to stabilize I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge area, including incentives for work to be completed by Jan. 4. 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited I-40 alongside North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins, saying “It will take billions of dollars and months, if not years,” to fully repair I-40, per reporting from WCNC Charlotte. 

Buttigieg said the federal government has approved $100 million in emergency road repair funds for North Carolina, though timelines remain to be set. 

Elsewhere, NCDOT has reopened nearly 800 of the roughly 1,200 roads that were closed after the storm. NCDOT continues to restore access with more than 2,000 employees in western North Carolina working to reopen closed roads. Parts of I-40, and Interstate 26 in Henderson and Polk counties south of Asheville, have also reopened. 

NCDOT is also hosting a number of prequalification sessions for businesses seeking to assist in restoring western North Carolina following the storm, an effort it says will take billions of dollars. 

A first webinar was held Oct. 22, covering contracting opportunities for debris removal, construction, paving, traffic control and other recovery work, and how businesses can become prequalified to bid on NCDOT contracts. Six in-person prequalification workshops are scheduled for Oct. 29-30 in Asheville, as well as in-person prequalification work sessions Oct. 24 in Fayetteville and Nov. 14 in Rocky Mount.

Asheville Slowly Recovers

Asheville, N.C., has restored water service to nearly all of its customers, after working around the clock to reconnect a 36-in. bypass line connecting its largest source of drinking water. That connection was made at 1 a.m. Oct. 10 by local contractors TP Howard’s Plumbing and Tennoca Construction Co., and in an Oct. 21 update, Asheville water system spokesman Clay Chandler reported that the city had restored service to 95% of its customers. 

“We are grateful to our customers for their patience as we navigate the challenges of restarting a water system after the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of western North Carolina,” Chandler says in the update. 

Boil water advisories remain in place as the North Fork Reservoir, to which the 36-in. line connected, remains too turbid for normal operation.

One treatment has been applied to the water, though it’s not clearing up as officials expected, and is instead clearing turbidity from depths of 40 ft to 50 ft while the surface level remains filled with sediment. A second treatment is scheduled for around Oct. 28.

Crews will place a sediment curtain in a 500-ft circle around the intake once the curtain arrives around Oct. 24-25, he adds.

Smaller pockets remain without power due to smaller infrastructure washouts, such as in the Town Mountain area, where Chandler says a 3-in. water line was disconnected via landslide, cutting water to between 60 and 75 homes. 

But before those repairs can be made, the city must first coordinate with NCDOT to repair roads leading to the area.