TDOT specialist provides Helene roadwork updates

KINGSPORT — Over the next couple months, contractors for the Tennessee Department of Transportation will continue working on roads and bridges damaged by Hurricane Helene.TDOT Regional Communications Specialist Drew Rutherford provided updates on several of the impacted areas at Tuesday's United Way of Greater Kingsport annual meeting.Unicoi CountyIn Unicoi County, Rutherford showed in his presentation three projects under construction: Unicoi I-26, State Route 36 and Unicoi/Washington State Route 81.Rutherford said that for the portion of I-26 impacted in Unicoi County, all lanes are anticipated to be open by June of this year. He said the bridge deck had reinforcing steel installed and concrete for the eastbound bridge deck was poured on Jan. 28.He said the concrete takes a few weeks to cure, but TDOT will start doing curb installation and traffic control in the following weeks to prepare for a traffic switch.I-26 officially opened to one lane of traffic in each direction on Oct. 30, between mile marker 39 and mile marker 40."I-26 is probably for people in this county, the biggest impact," Rutherford said. "Currently one lane in either direction through Erwin. It's going to continue to be that way until this is completed in May … We essentially filled in with rock the gap on the bridge that's open to be able to build a temporary road that would reconnect that and re-establish interstate connection to North Carolina."For State Route 36, Rutherford's slideshow presentation cited the estimated completed date for construction would be April. Information provided by TDOT at the meeting explained that temporary signals are in place and smaller washouts have been addressed by the department.Washington CountyTwo construction projects are planned for Washington County, with one underway and one still in the design phase.Work on the Washington County State Route 81 Bridge is estimated to be finished by June. Half the shafts have been poured and causeway work is set to begin soon, according to Rutherford's presentation.The Washington County State Route 353 Bridge is in the design phase, with bids open through Jan. 31. Rutherford said TDOT should hopefully be able to announce when the project should be completed in the next few weeks."And then finally, 353 is the only one we don't have an expected completion bid on," Rutherford said. "That's in the middle of Washington County, and we should be able to announce … Hopefully in the next few weeks, we'll have an estimated completion on that."Carter CountyTwo TDOT Helene-related projects are under construction in Carter County: Carter County State Route 67/State Route 91 and Carter/Johnson County State Route 159.State Route 67 includes the Broad Street Bridge in Elizabethton, which Rutherford called a "vital" connection point for those living in Carter County. While Carter County State Route 67 is slated to be complete by May, Rutherford said State Route 159 will take a little longer."August right now is our furthest completion date," Rutherford said. "That's for Carter/Johnson 159 into Boone, but we're going to start seeing roadways reopened completely restored to what they were before here pretty soon."Johnson CountyRutherford explained that Johnson County was in a "unique situation" following the flooding from Hurricane Helene, considering very few of its local roads connect to one another."So if you lived in Johnson County, off of one of these closures, there was no way in or out," he said. "There was no way to get medicine, to get food, to get fuel for your generator or to get clean water. So really, one of the first places we deployed and the first contract that we signed was for State Route 34 US-421, from Mountain City to Boone to reconnect those communities."He said State Route 34 opened in December 2024 through the work of local contractors."Normally you'd have to build infrastructure to be able to pour that concrete into a receptacle for that concrete to be pumped into and that would take some time to build that, and then you'd have to excavate, and then you'd have to fill, and then you'd have to do that again, wash and repeat," Rutherford said. "These are actually canvas bags, they're about 50 feet long. They each have compartments, as you can see, and they can pump one row of that in hours instead of days, and that's how this route got opened."For the latest updates on TDOT work and construction, visit https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/hurricane-helene-recovery.html.