Five Tennessee roads remain closed six months after Helene as recovery continues
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — This week marks six months since Hurricane Helene devastated parts of East Tennessee and western North Carolina. While the majority of Tennessee roads have reopened, five sections remain closed.
The massive storm took lives, destroyed homes, damaged bridges, shut down part of I-40 between Tennessee and North Carolina, and damaged I-26 in Unicoi County. United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this would 'be the most expensive emergency relief project that we have ever had in the country.'
Over 100 cars line up for new mobile food pantry as flood recovery continues in Cocke County
During these six months, I-40 partially reopened. Of the 49 sections of state roads closed in the aftermath, 44 are back open, according to a Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesperson. Businesses have reopened, and park trails have been restored.
Yet, there is still so much left to do. Five road sections remain closed, according to TDOT, including the following:
Carter SR67 (bridge) estimated opening: May 31, 2025
Greene SR107 (bridge) estimated opening: June 23, 2025
Washington SR81 (bridge) estimated opening: June 23, 2025
Carter/Johnson SR159 estimated opening: August 31, 2025
Washington SR353 (bridge) estimated opening: May 22, 2026
In the aftermath, the people of East Tennessee have come together help, from retired couples to high school students.
Lawyer breaks down wrongful death lawsuit filed by Riley Strain's family
Some people have said their FEMA checks have been stolen. Other people have had their insurance companies deny coverage on lost homes. The six months of struggle are reminiscent of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee's words in the aftermath of the disaster.
'Whether it's a loss of a family member, a loss home, the loss of water, the loss of employment… they're survivors,' Lee said. 'Tennesseans are survivors.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Verge
3 hours ago
- The Verge
Republicans are determined to make you pay more for gas
Things are getting nutty in the world of vehicle fuel economy standards. Last week, Transportation Secretary (and ex-reality TV contestant) Sean Duffy declared that he was resetting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards that govern vehicle fuel efficiency in the US. Duffy confidently declared that the current CAFE standards, in which fuel economy would increase 2 percent per year for passenger car model years 2027–2031 and 2 percent per year for light-duty trucks model years 2029–2031, 'illegally' considered electric vehicles, and therefore were null and void. So while it works on reversing those standards, Duffy said the Trump administration would simply stop enforcing the current ones. The rules were being rewritten to make 'vehicles more affordable and easier to manufacture in the United States,' Duffy said. Experts say rolling back the CAFE standards will have the opposite effect: cars will be less fuel efficient, forcing their owners to shell out more for gas over time. While it works on reversing those standards, Duffy said the Trump administration would simply stop enforcing the current ones 'Making our vehicles less fuel efficient hurts families by forcing them to pay more at the pump,' Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All program, said in a statement. 'This action puts the well-being of our communities at risk in every way imaginable. It will lead to fewer clean vehicle options for consumers, squeeze our wallets, endanger our health, and increase climate pollution.' The CAFE standards were first issued in response to the 1973 energy crisis. The law requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set standards for the 'maximum feasible' average fuel economy levels that car and truck manufacturers can achieve in their fleets in a given model year. If the Biden rules were allowed to play out, new cars and passenger trucks would have to travel on average 50.4 miles per gallon by 2031. Individual vehicle owners would save an average of $600 in fuel costs over the life of their vehicles. And the US would avoid having to burn more than 70 billion gallons of gasoline through 2050, resulting in more than 710 million metric tons of pollution out of the air — the equivalent of taking more than 230 million vehicles off the road. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are racing ahead with a budget reconciliation bill that would zero out fines for automakers that fail to meet the current CAFE standards — in effect making those rules completely toothless. Noncompliance fines have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to the federal coffers over the years. Stellantis, which owns Jeep and Dodge, paid over $400 million in civil penalties from 2016–2019, and then $190.7 million from 2019–2020, while General Motors paid $128.2 million in 2016–2017, Reuters reports. 'This action puts the well-being of our communities at risk in every way imaginable.' Naturally, the automakers are giddy at the possibility of zero consequences for exceeding fuel economy standards. 'The standards are out of sync with the current market reality and immediate relief is necessary to preserve affordability and freedom of choice,' Stellantis told Reuters. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents Detroit's Big Three automakers, praised the Republican bill, as well as Duffy's novel interpretation of the current CAFE standards. In 2022, this same group praised President Joe Biden's CAFE standards as 'good and appreciated.' These are the same companies that used to claim to care about fighting climate change and creating a world with 'zero emissions,' as GM once said. Carlos Tavares, who recently resigned as CEO of Stellantis, said last October that he supports stricter emission and fuel economy rules in Europe and the US because he wanted to be on 'the right side of history.' He recalled in wrenching detail the experience of his daughter driving through a wildfire in Portugal, in which the heat was so intense it melted the door panel of her car. Now, when faces with proposals that would worsen the effects of climate change by allowing automakers to make more polluting vehicles, those same automakers are enthusiastic in their support. This shouldn't come as any surprise. Automakers were complicit in the first Trump administration's attempt at weaken fuel economy standards. And they support the administration's efforts to nullify California's ban on the sale of gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035. They are firmly on the side of making more money, not preventing wildfires and floods caused by a heating planet.
Motor Trend
a day ago
- Motor Trend
Trump Transportation Secretary Calls Fuel Economy Standards 'Illegal,' Pushes to Revise Them
It looks like the Trump administration's fight against electric vehicles and alternative fuels has sprouted a proxy battle over Federal fuel economy standards. On top of recently proposed taxes on EVs—as opposed to tax incentives for purchasing them—and attempting to axe California's EPA waiver allowing it to set its own pollution standards, Republicans' 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' aims to remove financial penalties that punish automakers for exceeding government-set fuel economy standards, while also relaxing those same standards. On Friday, the Administration's Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, seemingly putting forth a pretext to undo the Biden-era fuel economy rules, says those rules were 'illegal.' The sharp statement is likely the administration's opening move to reset the standards, per an Associated Press report. In the mentioned rule memorandum sent by Duffy, the Transportation Secretary said, 'We are making vehicle more affordable and easier to manufacture in the United States' by removing those standards. The Biden-era rules mandated that the CAFE average must meet a fleet-wide 49 mpg standard by 2031 in annual increments of two percent for passenger cars starting in 2027 and light trucks and SUVs starting in 2029. A statement by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation welcomed the news stating it was a 'positive development and important clarity from the Department of Transportation' and says it repeated that the Biden Administration rules were 'improperly predicated' on alternative fuel vehicles. Transportation Secretary Duffy went further by stating that the use of EVs in calculating the rules was 'illegal' by ignoring 'statutory requirements' the barred consideration of EVs when setting the standards. At this time, the revised rule hasn't changed the existing standards but it will allow the NHTSA to adjust CAFE standards moving forward. Since his confirmation, Transportation Secretary Duffy has pushed the NHTSA to reverse these rules as quickly as possible, though it's unclear how quickly that can happen given the typically required public comment period and other steps that must be taken when altering them. It's possible that by labeling the existing rules as "illegal," Duffy could be reaching for a shortcut; after all, if the rules were implemented illegally, as he alleges, undoing them might be more straightforward than instituting a more conventional change. But we'll have to wait and see how this plays out—and whether any litigation sprouts up to challenge it.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Washington Post
Transportation chief seeks to weaken fuel economy standards, calls Biden-era rule 'illegal'
DETROIT — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a rule Friday that Biden-era fuel economy standards for gas-powered cars and trucks are illegal and moved to reverse them, paving the way for a likely reset of rules. Combined with Senate language in the pending budget bill to eliminate penalties for exceeding standards regulating how far vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel, automakers moving forward could come under less pressure from regulators to reduce their pollution. Ultimately, the nation's use of electric vehicles could be slowed.
