When will roads be repaired after hurricane damage?

Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Road repair aftre hurricane slow going across NC
Hundreds of roads were damaged in the hurricane and flooding

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- How long will it take for the road near YOU to get fixed? That's the question many North Carolinians are asking.

With more than 300 roads still closed by Hurricane Matthew, state inspectors are only just now starting to assess the damage and put repair plans in place.

In just about every instance, that process comes down to a hydrologist and/or other types of inspectors from the Department of Transportation visiting roads that have been washed away, the DOT determining what repairs need to be made, and then contracting with private companies to make the fixes.

Because it's early in the DOT's process, there's no good centralized location to get updates on roads near you, but once a project has been contracted, if it's a bigger project, it may wind up on the DOT's website. That hasn't happened so far with projects related to Matthew, but you can search the agency's projects here.

The upshot is that money for the projects shouldn't be a problem. Federal highway funds have been set aside because of the disaster declaration. A DOT spokesperson says that means the money will be there.

What's more, some of the red tape should be down to get the money flowing faster.

Read more: Eastover residents upset over slow road repairs.

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