SWANNANOA, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A bridge on U.S. 70 is scheduled to reopen Tuesday night and alleviate some congestion in eastern Buncombe County.
The bridge just east of the Charles George Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center will carry traffic for the first time since the remnants of Hurricane Helene damaged structural elements and scoured away the eastern approach, the North Carolina Department of Transportation said in a news release.
NCDOT officials did not have a definite time the bridge would reopen.
An average of 16,000 vehicles per day crossed the bridge before Helene. Its closure increased congestion on Interstate 40 and I-240 east of Asheville. NCDOT officials believe the opening will relieve some of this congestion as drivers return to the bridge.
“From the ground up, we identified that we had to rehab the substructure, then come behind and build a reinforced retaining wall to establish the roadway again,” Tom Veazey, a Division 13 resident engineer, said in the release. “We’re finishing the paving today for the traveling public.”
With the reopening, no other U.S. highways are closed in Buncombe County. But several North Carolina highways remain closed in the county, including stretches of N.C. 81 and N.C. 197, plus stretches of roads on the state secondary system.
NCDOT crews and contractors have reopened more than 1,230 roads across Western North Carolina, including more than 120 in the past week. There are less than 190 remaining closures because of Helene, according to the NCDOT dashboard.