News

Here's update on Helene road repairs, other projects in the works

By Bill Moss, Published: April 27, 2026

Crews have nearly completed many of the major repairs and rebuilds of roads and bridges damaged by Hurricane Helene, although several that were virtually destroyed in Hickory Nut Gorge are still a ways from being fixed.

The Henderson County Transportation Advisory Committee received an update last week on the Helene repair work, on routine repaving jobs and on major projects in the pipeline.

Helene-related repair work is nearly finished on U.S. 64 in Bat Cave, Pot Shoals Road and U.S. 176. Projects that are not scheduled to be done until late 2027 or 2028 include many that are east of the Continental Divide: Middle Fork Road, Toms Falls, Bald Rock Road, Bearwallow Mountain Road, Edney Inn Road.

Other projects under construction, percent completion and remaining work:

• Brickyard Road bridge replacement, 99 percent, March 2026.
• North Highland Lake Road, 95 percent, working on punch list.
• I-26, 95 percent, “weigh in motion” station for heavy trucks, lighting under way.
• Church Street repaving, 95 percent, intermittent night-time closures still occurring.
• Ecusta Trail eastern leg, 95 percent.
• Peter Guice Bridge over the Green River, I-26, 87 percent, final paving, lane closures continue this month.
• U.S. 64 modernization and roundabouts from Blythe Street to White Pine Drive, 8 percent, utility relocations continue, rough grading underway.
• N.C. 191, clearing for utility relocation completed, project completion date is projected to be August 2028.

Repaving work is scheduled this year for Asheville Highway from N.C. 191 to Berkeley Road, Signal Hill Road, Upward Road, Rutledge Road and parts of Sugarloaf Road, Hoopers Creek Road, Garren Road, Ransier Road, Finley Street, Echo Lakes Drive, Fruitland Road, Greenwood Drive, Rhodes Road and Old Turnpike Road.