ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Transportation has received permits to extract rock from Pisgah National Forest to reconstruct Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge, an area damaged by Hurricane Helene.
NCDOT officials announced that they obtained a 404 Individual Permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a 401 Water Quality Certification from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources on August 1. This development allows the department to move forward with plans to use locally sourced stone for the reconstruction project.
State officials noted that extracting stone from the nearby Pisgah National Forest will reduce construction costs and timelines compared to using materials that would need to be shipped in from other locations, WLOS reports.
WATCH: How Hurricane Helene reshaped Lake Lure
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