Hurricane Helene Ravaged North Carolina’s Roads, With No Timeline for Repairs

Repairing the roads in the region near the North Carolina-Tennessee border could take months. Some residents worry about the impact on the local economy.

The small roads made of dirt and rock had been there for generations, twisting byways that carried families up and down the mountains of western North Carolina. The asphalt highways were newer, built along cliffs and over rivers to connect the region with South Carolina and Tennessee.

But flooding fueled by the remnants of Hurricane Helene washed many of those roads away last week and grievously damaged many others, stranding people in more remote locations and requiring lengthy detours through much of the area.

More than 1,600 state transportation employees and contractors have already worked to reopen some roads and portions of major highways, including interstate lanes around Asheville. But as of early Saturday, there were just over 700 incident reports noting a portion of road still listed as closed, impassable or otherwise affected by the storm.

“People’s lives and livelihoods are on the line, and there’s going to be very little patience for delay,” said Tabitha Combs, an assistant professor focused on transportation planning and policy, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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A walking bridge above the Swannanoa River in Asheville on Monday.Credit…Nicole Craine for The New York TimesImageA neighborhood last week in the North Carolina community of Swannanoa. Credit…Mike Belleme for The New York Times

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