(The Center Square) – Even in a year where disaster response to Hurricane Helene pushed on operations and maintenance expenditures, the North Carolina Department of Transportation stayed under its spending plan of $8.29 billion in 2025.
Actual expenditures were $8.23 billion, an analysis by the office of first-term Republican state Auditor Dave Boliek says.
Secretary Daniel Johnson in response to the audit wrote, “The department continued to develop the plan based on specific projects and operations. Hurricane Helene required the department to develop additional modeling to specifically address recovery efforts.”
The audit also included review of the Helene modeling and monitoring.
Thirty-four projects are under construction from Murphy to Manteo, according to the department’s website. Road widenings, bridge and corridor improvements, and completions of interstate junctions are among them.
The Department of Transportation was below forecasted levels in construction ($40 billion), the categories of other modes ($33 billion) and other ($18 billion). Operations and maintenance were $26 billion above the forecast of $2,928,000,000.
Other modes means expenditures for public transportation, bicycles, ferries, airports and railroads. The category labeled other means expenditures for administration, transfers, state aid to municipalities, debt service and other miscellaneous functions.
This is the 68th week of recovery from Hurricane Helene, arguably the state’s worst natural disaster. The storm killed 108 in the state, 237 in the South, and caused an estimated $60 billion to $80 billion in damage in North Carolina.
Lawmakers in Raleigh have funneled more than $1.1 billion into the recovery efforts. Federal response included a December 2024 appropriation of about $9 billion from a nationwide $110 billion package.
The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Dekle Beach, Fla., on Sept. 26, 2024. It dissipated over the mountains of the state and Tennessee, dropping more than 30 inches in some places and over 24 consistently across more.
Roads, both federal, state and private, took a beating in the aftermath. At peak, more than 1,400 state-maintained roads were closed; nearly 850 bridges were impacted; and another 2,000 pipes and culverts needed repair.
Commerce and tourism were impacted by the loss of Interstate 40 between Asheville and Knoxville, Tenn. Two eastbound lanes fell into the Pigeon River about 4 miles into North Carolina. I-26 and U.S. 64 also had catastrophic damage.
