NCDOT engineers worked to fill the gap in a key highway bridge damaged by Hurricane Helene in Bat Cave, NC, restoring vital access for residents and aiding in the rebuilding of roads and power lines in the area devastated by the storm.
Photo courtesy of NCDOT
One of the unincorporated community’s key bridges carries U.S. Highway 64 across the Rocky Broad River at its intersection with U.S. 74 Alt., but the storm’s deluge carried away soil and riprap, severing the main highway connection into the community.
The small mountain community of Bat Cave, in the rugged Hickory Nut Gorge southeast of Asheville, N.C., paid a heavy price in late September for being in the path of the remnants of what was Hurricane Helene.
Like scores of other towns and cities in the western part of the state, as well as in eastern Tennessee, Bat Cave was battered by the storm's high winds, heavy rain and unprecedented floodwaters — enough to collapse roads and bridges.
One of the unincorporated community's key bridges carries U.S. Highway 64 across the Rocky Broad River at its intersection with U.S. 74 Alt., but the storm's deluge carried away soil and riprap, severing the main highway connection into the community.
When Chelsea Atkins and her husband came down from the cabin where they had taken refuge during Helene's rampage, they were shocked by what was left of their town.
The river, normally knee-deep, had ripped away homes and businesses and the land on which they stood. Their own house was still standing, though the back deck was gone along with part of the wall closest to the river.
All roads in and out of Bat Cave were blocked by landslides, washouts and downed trees. Just beyond the post office heading southeast toward Chimney Rock, U.S. 64 disappeared, and its pavement either washed away or covered by several feet of mud and debris.
The bridge that carried the highway over the Rocky Broad River was still standing, but with a wide gap on one side where floodwaters had washed away supporting earth and rock.
Atkins told the Raleigh News & Observer in mid-October that she and her husband thought it might be months before anyone made it into Bat Cave.
"I really didn't think anybody was coming for us," she said. "The fact that people are here, and care, is just wild to me."
Among the folks in Bat Cave were contractors for the state's Department of Transportation (NCDOT), which worked to fill the gap between the U.S. 64 bridge and the riverbank. Restoring the use of the bridge is the best hope NCDOT has for rebuilding the highway and other roads into the community, Michael Patton, resident engineer on the project, told the Raleigh news source.
"This bridge is very, very vital to getting men, equipment, materials, supplies, electricity, you name it, back into Bat Cave and then other areas beyond Bat Cave, including Chimney Rock," said Patton, standing a few feet from the gap that workers had begun to fill with dirt and fine gravel.
From Hendersonville, U.S. 64 crosses the Eastern Continental Divide, then follows Reedy Patch Creek down toward Bat Cave and Chimney Rock. When the wind and rain stopped on Sept. 27, the winding two-lane road was blocked by downed trees and power poles, mud from landslides, and places where the creek had carried away the pavement.
From the cabin up the hill, Atkins said she watched the Rocky Broad gradually overwhelm buildings.
"We could see them falling in. It sounded like thunder crackling," she said. "We saw our neighbor's motor home. It was huge … and it looked like a little kid's toy in a bathtub. It just swam away."
Getting Equipment to Bridge Was First Step
By Oct. 10, the road along Reedy Patch Creek was made passable again and lined with tree crews from Alabama, as well as utility contractors from Canada and Indiana. NCDOT also had the mudslides cleared and washouts filled, though guardrails still hung down like spaghetti where the creek washed away the shoulder.
More importantly, the road was by then made strong enough to bring in earth-moving equipment and dump trucks needed to fix the bridge, which was as far as the NCDOT vehicles could go.
Ben Williams, an agency maintenance engineer who drove one of the vehicles, told the News & Observer that during his career, he had cleaned up after many storms in his 25 years with the department.
"I've never dreamed of anything like this," he said as he walked past the shattered buildings hanging over the river. "I can't wrap my head around what I'm looking at."
The concrete span carrying U.S. 64 over the Rocky Broad River was originally built in 1958 and had withstood many previous storms.
But the deluge from Helene pressed trees, pieces of buildings and a shipping container — flattened by the force of the water — up against the bridge's steel pilings. Partly blocked by the debris, the rampaging water began scouring the riverbanks at either end of the bridge, creating the hole that crews needed to fix.
The bridge is tilted slightly downstream, however, and early on, NCDOT would not let anyone go underneath it for fear it would topple over. Concrete poured around the piles has since helped stabilize it, the Raleigh newspaper noted.
Although the span over the Rocky Broad River will eventually need to be replaced, by the beginning of November, Patton announced that contractors were finally able to fill the gap and get it open to truck traffic so as to allow crews to begin rebuilding roads and power lines in other parts of the valley.
When NCDOT crews first got to Bat Cave, they found that residents had taken it upon themselves to jerry rig a rickety walking bridge over the river. Engineers with the state agency, though, decided to improve upon the crossing by creating something a bit more stable — enough to roll a wheelbarrow over — using four pieces of scaffolding bolted together.
NCDOT still lists hundreds of roads in the western part of the state as either closed or partially closed as a result of Helene. The department's strategy has been to fix them just enough to restore connections, the News & Observer reported, particularly to isolated communities like Bat Cave, and worry about long-term reconstruction later.
Photo courtesy of NCDOT
Today's top stories
