There’s more bad news for the residents of Western North Carolina. A section of the Interstate 40, which had collapsed during Hurricane Helene’s flooding, was set to be reopened this week.However, it has now been delayed after a blockage was caused due to the asphalt from eastbound lanes which fell on the roads this week. The state Department of Transportation made the announcement of the development on Friday.
Interstate 40, which is the primary road connection between North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, had been blocked in late September as intense flooding in the Pigeon River gorge swept away over 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) the road’s eastbound lanes. Hurricane Helene which struck the Tar Heel state in September, was the worst in the state since Hurricane Matthew before it, and the destruction caused by it has been often compared to the impact of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.
All the transportation crews and contractors had initially concentrated on reopening all the westbound lanes in Haywood County to two-way traffic. This was a project that was supposed to be completed in the first week of January. Now, the new damage will force the authorities to keep it closed until the engineers are able to determine whether the area is safe enough or not for drivers to ply along such a narrow pattern in the gorge, according to a state DOT press release.