Construction is set to begin soon on a vital road connecting the towns of Saluda and Tryon in Polk County.
The road, U.S. 176, has been closed since Hurricane Helene — and there hasn’t been an easy way to travel between the two towns ever since.
For nearly two years, residents have had to take Interstate 26 instead, a detour that some say has left them feeling isolated and taken a toll on local businesses.
The damaged stretch of road is a little over a mile long. But its location in a steep and narrow gorge along the North Pacolet River has made the reconstruction process a challenging one, according to David Uchiyama, western communications manager for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
“The nature of this work requires the highway to remain closed for the duration of construction, which should conclude very late 2029,” Uchiyama told BPR in an interview Monday. “Now, I-26 will continue serving as the detour so folks can access either side of the closure.”
Uchiyama said construction is expected to begin this fall.
“The next step is to schedule the pre-construction meeting, and then following that meeting, we anticipate work to begin in four to six weeks,” he said
In some ways, the project is a smaller-scale version of the massive rebuilding effort underway on Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge. Both involve digging up rock to build a causeway next to the river and using soil nails — long metal bars — to rebuild the parts of the embankment that were destroyed by Helene’s rising floodwaters.
NCDOT Division Engineer Wesley Grindstaff called U.S. 176 “one of the most complex reconstruction projects that resulted from Hurricane Helene.”
“The corridor is highly constrained by the river on one side and rugged terrain on the other,” Grindstaff said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there is not enough room to make the repairs and allow traffic to use the road at the same time.”
NCDOT announced Monday that Charlotte-based Blythe Construction has been awarded a $32 million contract for the U.S. 176 repair work. The company also recently completed the reconstruction of U.S. 64 leading into Bat Cave, which cost an estimated $25 million.
U.S. 176 is one of the last roads to be repaired in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Overall, 99% of the state roads damaged by the storm have reopened.
