The Tennessee Department of Transportation plans to move quickly with repairs to infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Helene, notably the collapsed potion of Interstate 40 near the Tennessee-North Carolina border and the handful of bridges that have washed away.
The storm left 14 state bridges on state routes closed, and five of those are “completely gone,” TDOT Deputy Commissioner Will Reid said during a Sept. 29 news conference. That means not just repairs, but entirely new builds will be necessary to reconnect communities.
TDOT has inspected more than 100 bridges over the course of 36 hours, the department said in a 5:30 p.m. social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Officials still have hundreds more to check.
In Greene County, Reid said, Bridge 107 is compromised, as well as bridges on state routes 340, 350 and 351. Some local bridges in the county are compromised as well.
TDOT wants to begin awarding repair contracts as early as Sept. 30, Reid said.
“We are still in the debris removal and assessment phase,” he said.