I-40 near western NC ‘indefinitely closed’ after devastation from Helene

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WNCN) — The North Carolina Department of Transportation said it’s unclear exactly when a closed portion of Interstate 40 in Western North Carolina will be open.

The section closed is from Exit 20 to the Tennessee state line. A representative with NCDOT said three long sections of the major highway were damaged by Hurricane Helene. Those three sections are throughout, from 4 to 4.5 miles.

“From the state line til about mile marker 4, 4 and a half, there are three different long sections that have essentially fallen into the river,” said David Uchiyama, Western Communications Manager with NCDOT. “I-40 is going to be indefinitely closed for the foreseeable future.”

The area of the highway runs through the area of Pigeon River Gorge.

“The water rose so high, it washed out all of the trees, all the bushes, all the dirt that helps support the roadway,” said Uchiyama.

He tells CBS 17 that they are not able to provide a potential timeline for repairs and reopening that section of I-40, along with what exactly the repairs will be or look like.

“There are a variety of different ideas floating out there on how to repair them, both in the long term and how to shore up what still remains so it can still be used,” said Uchiyama Thursday morning. “The design for repairs and reconstruction in this section will certainly include as many protections as possible for future hundred year, maybe even five hundred year floods.”

In Tennessee, its Department of Transportation says I-40 in Cocke County is closed eastbound at mile marker 440 to the state line, and westbound at mile marker 447 from the state line. A representative said it also does not have a time frame for reopening those sections of the highway.

Uchiyama tells CBS 17 that most construction projects in Western North Carolina have paused so contractors and NCDOT forces can respond to areas affected by the storm.

As for other affected roads, he says they are still assessing the region.

“There are 300, 400, we don’t even know exactly how many roads are closed right now because not all of them have had NCDOT or contractor’s eyes laid on them,” Uchiyama tells CBS 17. “The good news is a lot of those roads are being reopened. As a matter of fact, we took 100 off the list yesterday.”

NCDOT says an average of 30,000 vehicles typically travel through the closed section of I-40 each day.

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