Carter County had 74 roads damaged by Hurricane Helene

ELIZABETHTON — For the past year and a half, several government agencies and several of the region's leading engineering firms and general contractors have been repairing road and bridge damage caused by Hurricane Helene. Although it seems like the recovery work has been going on for a long time since Hurricane Helene struck on Sept. 27, 2024, the fact is that there is still a lot of work still to do before the recovery is complete. The government agencies that have been working on the recovery in Carter County include the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Carter County Highway Department, the Elizabethton Street Department for the city and the county. Inside the Roan Mountain State Park, the Tennessee State Parks have been working on the recovery. The general contractors involved in the work include Summer-Taylor, Beam Construction, Baker Construction Services, Barker Enterprises, Hinkle Environmental, and Landworx Bridge Services. Infrastructure was damaged throughout the county, but the worst was along the rivers and streams in the mountains, particularly the areas of Elk Mills and Poga along the eastern boundary of the county and Roan Mountain in the southern section of the county. One of the most extensive areas of damage and biggest jobs was to rebuild U.S. Highway 321. This main thoroughfare to Boone and Northwest North Carolina was closed for months from the intersection with Tennessee Highway 67 near the Butler Memorial Bridge across Watauga Lake to the state line. People from Elk Mills had to take extensive detours into North Carolina or Johnson County in order to reach the county seat of Carter County, adding another hour to their drive time. This $10,068,782.46 project was led by the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Baker Construction Services was the general contractor. The work took 14 months and the highway reconstruction extended over 12.49 miles. The work included debris removal, relocation of utilities throughout the project, diversion of the Elk River, construction of retaining walls and rock buttresses, and stabilization of the roadway. There big project was divided into five construction sites. Site 1 and site 2 were areas where the Elk River had eroded sections of the road. On site 1, there was still a lane and a half of the highway left. Site 2 was worse, with just a part of one lane left intact. Site 3 was where a landslide from steep hill overlooking the highway had buried the route. Site 4 was installing a new concrete culvert, which required removing about 60 feet of dirt underneath the highway to reach the old culvert. The final site was to stabilize a portion of a bank where a landslide had occurred. The damage done to the county roads was not as big as the U.S. 321 project, but the damage was more widespread. Carter County Highway Superintendent Shannon Burchett said 74 county roads were damaged by Helene. The damage extended over 55 miles of county roads. Burchett said there were also major damage to three bridges. These were the two bridges at Elk Mills/Poga and the Long Hollow Bridge. Burchett said about 40% of the roads have now been repaired. The county has spent $7,791,165 on the repairs. While the county expects to eventually see a lot of its expenses in rebuilding the roads to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the process was expected to be slow. That has proven to be true, with only $560,594 reimbursed so far. To avoid tying up much of its reserves in the rebuilding, the county commission decided to issue $40 million in bonds for the county's recovery from Helene. The county received a lot of help in building a solid foundation for the new roads from U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. The federal agency paid for 100% of bank stabilizations for the roads. That amounted to $1,275,471. The completed repairs include multiple sites in Roan Mountain that were completed by Beam Construction and another Beam Construction project on Railroad Grade Road. There were also two projects completed by Summers-Taylor on Jess Jarrett Road and Sugar Hollow Ridge Road. Projects continue to be awarded to contractors. The latest were three new contracts awarded last month: • Crabtree Road repairs and off-road repairs, awarded to Beam Construction, with a bid of $399,572; • Garland Road culvert repairs, awarded to Barkers Construction, with a bid of $269,000; • Dark Ridge Road repairs, awarded to Bakers Construction Services, with a bid of $550,866. There are still two areas in Roan Mountain State Park that have yet to be rebuilt. The upper campground remains closed because of significant damage to the bridge leading to the campground. The Tennessee Department of Transportation is working on a plan to rebuild the bridge, but that isn't expected to be completed until the fall of 2028. The park's Bear Wallow Trail also remains closed in the park. Another state property near the state park is the Hampton Creek Cove Natural Area, which still has the Birchfield Trail closed.