During a county-sponsored recovery resource fair in Gerton, about two dozen people made their way to the fire station to speak with representatives from various government agencies. Many had questions about repairs to roadways through the Hickory Nut Gorge – a collection of Henderson County communities including Bat Cave, Gerton and portions of Edneyville.
There to field questions Thursday afternoon was Mike Patton, a resident engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Patton told BPR that residents are concerned with how long repairs are taking.
“We feel their pain. I live here, most of the people I work with live here. And so we work hard every day to try to make this a fast process, clean process, and as easy as we can for the public,” he said.
The area has three major ongoing road repair projects that NCDOT estimates will cost at least $444 million. The agency says it has begun construction on two of the projects.
Those projects aim to complete permanent repairs to U.S. 64 and U.S. 74 throughout Henderson and Rutherford counties. The roads connect Gerton, Edneyville, Bat Cave and Chimney Rock to each other and to larger cities like Hendersonville and Asheville.
The gorge suffered dozens of landslides caused by Hurricane Helene, leaving these roads and many smaller roads covered in debris or completely swept away. Patton, who is based in Henderson County, said he will likely be managing about 25 road repair projects.
NCDOT made temporary road repairs in some areas where missing asphalt could be filled in with gravel. Some areas of the highways have been converted to one-lane roads with alternating traffic signals. The roads are steep and winding, further complicating repair efforts.
Earlier this year Gov. Josh Stein signed a Helene relief bill that allocated nearly $300 million to NCDOT to be used for recovery in impacted areas.
NCDOT is now in the process of contracting with companies to repair the roads and bridges throughout Western North Carolina.
“ There's a limited supply of contractors, limited supply of materials and limited supply of people,” Patton told BPR. “It can be…the quickest way to get it done, to stagger these things. Otherwise, you overload the system and before you know it, you're asking people to bid on a contract and everybody says, ‘Well, I don't need any more work.’”
The largest NCDOT projects in the Hickory Nut Gorge communities are:
U.S. 64 in Henderson County:
- Estimated Cost: $32 million
- Status: Under Construction
- Construction Started: March 3, 2025
U.S. 74A in Henderson County
- Estimated Cost: $126 million
- Status: Under Construction
- Construction Started: April 2025
U.S 64/74 Chimney Rock in Rutherford County
- Estimated Cost: $286 million
- Status: Pre-Construction Design
- Anticipated Construction Start Date: August 2025
