Hurricane Helene is estimated to have caused $9.8 billion in damage to western NC’s transportation infrastructure. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
North Carolina officials began meeting last week with interested contractors for road and bridge projects in western North Carolina — a first step in what will be an expensive, complex rebuild effort after Hurricane Helene.
A two-day event at the NC Department of Transportation’s Asheville office gave contractors the opportunity to meet with state officials to pre-qualify for the department’s contracts in the mountains.
“The amount of work that’s going to have to be done, and is ongoing right now to continue to get everything restored — it’s unprecedented,” said Tim Anderson, an engineer with the DOT division covering Asheville and its surrounding area. “We know that the contract staff we have available to us in the mountains, and even from the eastern part of the state … we still need more folks.”
Gov. Roy Cooper’s office estimates that Helene caused $9.8 billion worth of damage to the region’s transportation infrastructure.