Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Thursday said it will take "billions of dollars and months if not years" to get the sections of Interstate 40 in North Carolina and Tennessee back to normal.
Buttigieg made that comment during a press conference while touring the site damaged by Hurricane Helene late last month. Part of the eastbound lanes of I-40 slid into the Pigeon River. Buttigieg said an $8 million contract has been awarded to stabilize the slope that once held the interstate.
The federal government has already sent $100 million to North Carolina for infrastructure repairs.
Helene claimed the lives of 98 people in North Carolina, and some 100 more are reported as missing.
