NCDOT rebuilds I-40 in Pigeon River Gorge with storm-resistant design

Añadido: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]A massive rebuilding effort on I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge rolls forward 20 months after Helene destroyed portions of the highway. News 13's Shelly Garzon reports on the new construction methods being used to help the highway better withstand future storms.

[00:00:17]We're estimating it being close to $2 billion for this project. The largest project to date for the North Carolina Department of Transportation and it comes with a new approach. The DOT continues to rebuild I-40 in the Pigeon River Gorge, but before boots can hit the ground, much work had to be done. Some of it's been investigation for the design.

[00:00:40]The temporary shoring is for the road itself and and some of it's been done for the construction of the permanent repairs. The new highway will be different from the one that washed away in the storm. Crews will start by blasting rock and material from quarries in Tennessee and North Carolina. That material is then crushed up to make a new form of concrete. That's called the roller compacted concrete and then we're bonding that all in one giant mass. So that roller compacted concrete is 30 ft wide and somewhere between 30 and 50 ft tall and then that material is more resilient and not as scourable. This new approach should withstand strong floodwaters. We put extensive amount of time into using hydraulics and hydrology analysis to figure out what we think will be a large event similar to Helene. So our intent is that that will last a event like that in at least 100 years. And as far as progress made on the site, We have about 31,000 cubic yards of concrete on site and that's about 4% of the design. So with additional items of construction, we're close to around 15% of overall construction. Now when it's all said and done, this right here is the end goal of this project. DOT says these slabs of concrete will help rebuild I-40. The Department of Transportation is hoping to have this project complete by the fall of 2028 with lanes all reopened.

[00:02:05]Reporting in Haywood County, I'm Shelly Garzone, News 13.