North Carolina Department of Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson visited Chimney Rock Thursday for an update on road repairs nearly two years after Hurricane Helene.
Johnson said more than 99% of the roads Helene closed have reopened thanks to the efforts of NCDOT staff. But several major projects remain underway in the western part of the state.
One of the major efforts is the permanent repair of roads in Hickory Nut Gorge. In recent months, severe weather has set back some of the recovery work along U.S. 64 and U.S. 74A, the state roads connecting communities including Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, Gerton, Bat Cave and Edneyville.
“DOT’s folks were on the ground in this gorge hours and days after the storm,” Johnson said. “They were here when all you could do was hike in for miles just to get any access. They worked tirelessly to rebuild a temporary road where no road existed to restore access to the gorge. And they’ve worked tirelessly with our contracting partners and our teams across the state to reopen this gorge and now to rebuild it better than it was before.”
The Hickory Nut Gorge project is expected to be completed in 2029. While construction is ongoing, the best way to get from Asheville to the Chimney Rock area is U.S. 64 via Hendersonville and Bat Cave, Johnson said.
Another remaining repair project is the $2 billion effort to rebuild Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge, which is expected to be finished in late 2028. Johnson described that endeavor – which involves rebuilding a retaining wall so that it can withstand future floods – as “one of the largest reconstruction projects probably in the history of the United States.”
Some smaller-scale projects are also continuing. A winding stretch of U.S. 176, the key state road between Saluda and Tryon, remains inaccessible, forcing drivers to detour to Interstate 26 to travel between the two towns. NCDOT officials told the Tryon Daily Bulletin in June that repair work will begin this fall and is expected to be completed by late 2029.
Johnson said Thursday that he’s “in awe” of what NCDOT staff have accomplished to date.
“I think they’ve completed decades’ worth of work in less than two years,” he said. “But we’ve still got some significant challenges ahead.”
