State and national leaders of both parties made appearances in Western North Carolina to celebrate progress made on repairing the state’s roads that were damaged by Hurricane Helene.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein announced that the Federal Highway Administration is pledging $1.15 billion in reimbursement funding for road repairs as part of Hurricane Helene recovery.
Stein was joined by U.S. Federal Highway Administrator Sean McMaster and other local and state officials on I-40, near the Pigeon River Gorge Friday to mark the progress made since Helene hit Western North Carolina a year ago.
The storm damaged over 9,000 sites along roads and bridges. It also caused the closure of more than 1,400 roads. But today things looks a lot different.
“97% of all state maintained roads closed by Helene have been reopened,” Stein said.
Road destruction from Helene is expected to cost $5 billion to repair, according to retiring North Carolina Secretary of Transportation Joey Hopkins.
“To put that in perspective, from 2016 to just before Helene, the department spent about $600 million on road repairs following all named and declared storms in North Carolina,” Hopkins said.
Money from the Federal Highway Administration is the largest single allocation of emergency relief funding allocated to one state in the department's history, according to FHA Administrator McMaster.
It will be used to rebuild specific roads like I-40, which reopened in March as a one lane road in each direction. The Blue Ridge Parkway will also receive $50 million for repairs.
“ I-40 is a vital interstate that allows people and goods to travel across Asheville and Western North Carolina through the mountains of eastern Tennessee, from families taking road trips to large freight trucks,” McMaster said.
NCDOT still needs to complete work on a four mile stretch of I-40, near the N.C.-Tennessee border that lost a portion of its shoulder, a slow lane, or both eastbound lanes because of Helene.
Officials say it will cost somewhere over a billion dollars and hope to have it completed by late 2028.
Stein voiced his appreciation to the federal government for their help and money, but added that the people of WNC deserve more.
“The average federal contribution to a state after a major storm is a percentage of the total damage is about 50%,” Stein said. “Today, North Carolina has received 11%. I'm calling on Congress to pass a new $13.5 billion appropriation to send more support our way.”
Blue Ridge Parkway is 90% repaired
On the same day as Stein’s visit, officials from the Trump Administration, including Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary Kate MacGregor and McMaster, gathered for a ribbon cutting at a recently reopened section of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
During Helene, much of the 469-mile roadway was closed as the National Park Service grappled with more than 50 unique landslides that, in some places, took out whole chunks of the road.
The Parkway has slowly reopened in sections, restoring access to iconic sites including Craggy Gardens and Mount Mitchell just last week.
MacGregor, the Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary, said repairing the roadway is a priority for the Trump Administration.
“Our entire team is dedicated to being a strong and reliable partner in the region's long-term recovery. Put simply, we want this road fully open, safe, and welcoming for all who travel it,” she said.
More than 90% of the Parkway is now open, MacGregor added. And work continues on the final stretch, where some of the most complex damage remains. That includes areas north of Mount Mitchell and south of Little Switzerland.
Repairs are estimated for completion in fall of 2026.
