#ncdot

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

"DANGEROUS CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA There are shortages of water, food, gas, power and communications in western NC. Access is limited to local and hurricane response traffic. You cannot get from North Carolina to TN via I-40 or I-26. There may be closed roads not listed on DriveNC.gov as many areas are not able to report at this time.  People evacuating the Asheville area can use I-40 east or I-26 east. Access to TN and SC from NC"

[the-city-in-mind]

Rob Robinson is a young musician from Asheville, NC who has made some really thoughtful and watchable videos about how his state DOT is stroad-ifying his city.

Here’s the first:

and the follow-up:

[mikemooremedia]

Eden Police urging residents to lock their car doors after recent vehicle break-ins, Reidsville Police arrest, Mayodan Police hiring, NC DOT travel alert, Data Privacy Week, donut news. Weather, birthday club, community calendar, regional sports, consumer report, Destination Celebration, motivational moment. Music Spotlight, The Cyrkle

[southern-railman]

Norfolk Southern promoting passenger rail was not on my 2023 bingo card! 😳

[deathlygristly]

The void is South Carolina, where I am for work right now.

And yeah, our internet is out at the moment due to the tropical storm.

[marrtraffic]

Turn Counts | Traffic Surveys | Marr Traffic Data Collection | Tampa - Traffic Count Data

Marr Traffic Data Collection based in Tennessee is the #1 traffic data collection company. Providing classified traffic turn movement counts, traffic surveys, superior video traffic data collection, traffic queue length studies, roundabout studies.

[nebine]

NCDOT really will let you put anything on a tag huh

[kimberly40]

Near the mouth of Bad Creek Road and NC 226 spanning nearly 80' is the Big Rock Creek swinging bridge. According to NCDOT, this bridge was built in 1947 to provide a safe path for children crossing Big Rock Creek on their way to school. This particular bridge has the distinction by NCDOT as being the oldest and most complete suspension bridge still standing.

Known as Mitchell County Bridge #223, it was built on the site of an even earlier footbridge. Suspension bridges were built in mass in North Carolina during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Providing a way to cross mountain rivers that were prone to flooding, these bridges were inexpensive to build and replace when needed. In 2005, the NCDOT maintained 21 suspension footbridges in Graham, Jackson, Macon, Mitchell, and Yancey counties.

Unfortunately, this old landmark has been closed by NCDOT for the past couple of years because it is now unsafe to cross and is no longer maintained. Even so, it is still a unique landmark of our county and reminds us of the days of yesteryear.

(Information from Mitchell County Alerts)

[sunflowerrex]

I need to talk about Helene.

I am struggling to come up with the words and the thoughts and I need to talk about this. I apologize for the length.

To preface, I am not a meterologist. I am merely a person who has taken several meterology class who is capable of reading those funky models that are put out by the NOAA. This being said, I follow severe weather to be able to update my friends and family on situations that could impact them. In this case, friends/family in Flordia, Atlanta, Tennesse and Carolina.

We all know of Hurricane Katrina, a catastrophe I simply do not have the words to describe the absolute clusterfuck of a situation and response that was given to the city of New Orleans. The floods that occured in Southern Appalachia carry the fullest of weight of the word to describe them, catastrophic. The states of Flordia, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennesse were all hit and also need support, however I am going to focus on North Carolina.

NCDOT has released a statement that "All roads in Western N.C are considered closed". Not just they are considered closed, they are gone. The roads are literally gone. Towns are destroyed, literally washed away. I won't get too personal with this post however I will say that I am still waiting for contact from several people within the impacted area. There is limited power, limited cellular service, basically extremel spotty and limited contact to the outside world.

I am keeping the descriptions of the damage minimal as it is simply hard to talk about.

I want to also say to please keep these areas in your thoughts. I know "thoughts and prayers do nothing", however holding these places and people in your hearts and having a mind open to supporting them however they need is so so so important. I know that some of these areas have people that have different beliefs and ideas than what you and myself do. I understand that entirely. I grew up on the border of appalachia and it is truly one of the most unique and wonderful places. The culture of this region is unlike anything I have ever experienced. There is a certain idea in most places of the country of who the people of appalachia are and how they are. There is a lot of history of this region that has had severe impacts on their views. Please try to look past any prejudices you may have towards this region when approaching their current situation.

Even if a person votes differently than you, they do not deserve this. Even if a person has different monetary assets than you, they do not deserve this. Even if a person has morals and values that are so drastically different than yours, they do not deserve this. I have been seeing this idea that "they chose to live there" and "they didn't evacuate". There is so much more to these choices than we can comprehend unless we have been in their shoes. All I ask is that you hold spaces in your heart for these people, these communities.

If you are able to and wanting to help, here are some ways to help.

From a source who works at FEMA, after about 2 weeks support tends to taper off for disasters such as these. When these disasters occur- CASH IS KING. Sending goods during the first two weeks is going to take people off of other jobs to sort out received items, create more cluster to be dealt with, ect. After the initial clean-up is done, that is when the time to donate supplies will become extremely beneficial. Organizations will let it be known when they are available and ready to receive actual items and goods.

In person volunteers in the begining stages of clean-up is another valuable resource that often becomes overbearing at the start. A bunch of people rush in, cant be organized and used effectively, and then leave. IF you are able to access an area that has been impacted, WAIT until the call for help comes out. Just like with supplies, the call for volunteers will come eventually and at that point it would be extremely beneficial to volunteer.

An important note to make about donations: ensure that the organization is a reputable one before donating. During these sorts of disasters scams run rampant. Please make sure that your hard earned money is going to the right place.

Appalachia Voices: https://appvoices.org/helene-relief/

a list of resources to support and provide to those impacted

The 19th: https://19thnews.org/2024/09/hurricane-helene-how-to-help-women-children-lgbtq-communities/

a list of LGBTQIA+ organizations, diaper banks, reproductive and womens health locations within the impacted states.

Charity Navigator: https://www.charitynavigator.org/discover-charities/where-to-give/hurricane-helene-2024/

This is a great resource when ensuring that a charity is actually going to use the funds for the right thing and not as a scam.

North Carolina: https://www.axios.com/local/charlotte/2024/09/29/helene-flooding-north-carolina-donations-help

A list of places to donate to assist the state of North Carolina

Georgia: https://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-news/hurricane-helene-how-you-can-help-with-storm-assistance-in-georgia/GV2OPU6GPVHNZGTFIQ6C4TX434/

A list of places to donate to assist the state of Georgia

Tennessee: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2024/09/29/how-to-help-hurricane-helene-flood-victims-in-tennessee/75443858007/

A list of places to donate to assist the state of Tennessee

Some other great organizations that are currently helping out the areas: The United Cajun Navy, Team Rubicon, World Central Kitchen

I have not yet found a list of sources for the states of Flordia, South Carolina, and Virginia directly however I will update once someone/myself makes one.

"Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."

Please if you are able, be a helper.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, as someone who studies environmental disasters these sorts of issues weigh very heavy on my chest to begin with, then there is the added tons of the connection that the people I love and myself have to the region. I will get off of my soapbox now. Sending you all love.

[lilbit-of-kizzy]

Hey so I found this really awesome website for Western NC!!

Fall is the busy season for the mountains, it's when most of the tourists destinations make their money for the entire year. And there's quite a lot of confusion as to what's actually open due to Helene, so a lot of these places are going to suffer again.

Please if you were thinking of going to the mountains this year give this map a look! If you weren't planning on it (and are able to) maybe consider it! These places could really use your business rn!!

It's a good idea to go ahead and call even the green locations just in case! (Definitely check the ncdot website before traveling west of Catawba Co) Especially if there's a particular destination you had in mind! I know places like Tweetsie and Linville Caverns (actually I'm not 100% on the caverns) have decided to stay closed for the foreseeable future, so their workers can focus on repairs, not on making it to work.

And I know the Blue Ridge Parkway is still closed, but the two Mast stores in Valle Crucis are back open! So while it's still best to check there's plenty of places who could sure use a visit!

I wanna thank everyone on this website for caring about us! For sharing good info and donating where you can, it's meant the world to our little slice of the world!

[guerrerense]

Classy Carolina Varnish por David Blazejewski Por Flickr: Amtrak Train 75 the afternoon southbound Piedmont from Raleigh to Charlotte is just about to depart from its station stop in Salisbury at the splendidly restored 1908 Spanish Mission style depot. There is no doubting the heritage of these rails as the whistle post guarding the East Council Street crossing is unique to the Southern Railway. Rather than use a W or an X they mounted these heavy aluminum canoe paddle style signs in posts that spelled out the whistle signal for a grate crossing: two longs - a short - and a long. This train is funded by NCDOT as one of Amtrak's state supported services. As described in Amtrak's five year plan: "Across the country, 29 routes are funded by 21 partners from 18 states, including state departments of transportation and authorities chartered specifically to administer individual rail corridors. Collectively, these transportation departments and other entities are referred to as State Partners, and the routes they fund are referred to as state-supported routes. All routes are under 750 miles in length as defined by 49 U.S.C. 24102(13)." While Amtrak provides the equipment for the interstate New York City to Charlotte Carolinian that NCDOT also funds the state's rail division provides the equipment for the strictly intrastate Piedmonts. 1859 seen here is an EMD F59PH built Dec 1988 as GOT 534 serving GO Transit out of Toronto. The train consists of refurbished "heritage" equipment built by Pullman or St. Louis Car Co. originally for the UP and/or KCS. NCDOT owns a total of 8 locomotives, 5 cab cars, and 20 other cars including coaches and baggage/lounge cars. All are adorned with this unique livery based on the North Carolina state flag. This is MP 333. on Norfolk Southern's Charlotte District Mainline. Interestingly despite this being the heart of NS' north south Wasghinton to Atlanta mainline this particular stretch of railroad is not NS but actually the North Carolina Railroad Company. The NCRR is a privately owned non-operating company whose shares are 100% held by the State of North Carolina. Long leased to the Southern and its predecessors since the 1870s the NCRR today is operated and maintained by NS under and exclusive trackage rights agreement. Salisbury, North Carolinan Monday April 11, 2016

[minor-locrian]

the can opener is famous and hilarious but it's worth mentioning that a few blocks from there is the road known as "reckless roxboro", because of the regularity with which people drive upwards of 20 mph over the speed limit on it. like, every few hours.

why is durham like this? well, many of the largest roads in durham are owned by the north carolina department of transportation instead of local government, including n roxboro street ("reckless roxboro") and n gregson st (where "the can opener" is located). this means that even though local politics are progressive and the city is doing its best to curb car dependency, these major roads are controlled by the more conservative state government.

i don't really have a point or a call to action or anything, this is just something i find interesting

edit for clarity: this situation is true for most cities in north carolina, ncdot is just an execptionally powerful department of transportation and is addicted to adding lanes to highways rather than doing literally anything else.

was reminded of that youtube channel that records footage of that bridge that scalps trucks today. one of the fascinating developments that's happened since i last heard about it is that, in one of their many attempts to stop the trucks from being can-opened, they installed a traffic light that detects when a vehicle that's over the allowed height is coming and turns red so the driver can stop and hopefully notice the signage all around that's screaming "YOUR VEHICLE IS OVERHEIGHT TURN AROUND" and avoid an accident. However as a result sometimes drivers see the light turning yellow and IMMEDIATELY start flooring it to avoid having to stop, ensuring that the roof of their truck just gets fucking annihilated instantly. Really beautiful stuff you should check it out

[mikemooremedia]

Spencer Odell, Maintenance Engineer. Over 80 trees down countywide, road closings, crews clearing trees and monitoring rivers and flood-prone areas, cleanup starting Monday. Facebook.com/NorthCarolinaDepartmentofTransportation

[deathlygristly]

I really need to stop checking other platforms for news. Yes, they can be more local. Yes, they can be more diverse with groups I've never really interacted with so I learn more about others.

On the other hand I am starting to feel how social media can stress people out and make them more cynical and negative, the upper middle classness of the local reddit is downright depressing, and I am not always able to stop myself from replying when I shouldn't.

Anyway I just saw someone claiming that the military helicopters delivering supplies to the mountains and the official emergency workers and help from FEMA in our mountains must be recent since it's not what they've heard about, and I don't even know what to do with that.

I linked a small easy to understand local story talking about the Swannanoa fire chief begging people to stop spreading misinformation and I said you're getting Russian propaganda from whoever told you the government isn't here helping. Maybe that will help, I don't know.

It's just...man.

And they were talking about the concert and saying at least those musicians would help when the government wouldn't. The concert where the governor held a press conference beforehand!

Also how could they have not seen all the videos like this one?

But that's what I mean about other social media being more diverse and showing me groups I don't interact with so I can learn more about them. I have no connections to people whose media diet consists solely of propaganda, so I tend to assume that people know what they're talking about and that they have good information and they're just trolling because they're from a troll farm or they just like fascism.

So I guess this experience is good for learning about people who may not be fascist at heart but who only listen to media run by fascists.

It's just...if no one in the government was in the mountains helping, there'd be so many more dead people. People would have starved or died of dehydration. People would have died from diseases caused by whatever water or food they could find being extremely contaminated. The entire region would still be closed off, because the state department of transportation wouldn't have done any work on the roads.

The N.C. Department of Transportation crews and contractors have reopened more than 600 North Carolina roads, mostly in the western part of the state, since Hurricane Helene. Transportation crews were nearly done cutting and moving debris to the shoulders to reopen roads, NCDOT officials said Monday. They created over 4,100 debris sites on roadsides. "Damage estimates from what we have been able to assess to this point are up to several billion dollars and we’re not done,” said state Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins in a news release. “The damage to our roads and bridges is like nothing we’ve ever seen after any storm, and this will be a long-term recovery operation. But we will be here until western North Carolina can get back on its feet.”

Also if the government wasn't helping no one would be able to communicate that they were all there dying of starvation and lack of clean safe water.

In the catastrophic aftermath of Helene, “disaster roaming” has been enabled in North Carolina to help connect residents who may be otherwise offline. Disaster roaming allows any phone on any cellular network to access any available network to connect to, regardless of provider. Service providers are required to activate disaster roaming during the following situations: When the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Emergency Support Function (ESF-2) is activated When the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) is activated When the Chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issues an activation Public Notice upon request of a state When a state has activated its Emergency Operations, activated mutual aid, or proclaimed a local state of emergency

The government had to act to get disaster roaming enabled.

I just....god. What do you even do about this level of propaganda?

[qhsetools2022]

HSE Coordinator

Job title: HSE Coordinator Company: Mountain Creek Contractors Job description: Workers Comp paperwork (when applicable). Assist HSE Manager with yearly required NCDOT / Federal documentation. Assist… HSE Manager with EEO requirement from NCDOT & Federal. Attending EEO Meetings and assisting to implement & train all staff… Expected salary: Location: Catawba, NC Job date: Sun, 23 Feb 2025 23:31:56…

[perimsmouse]

Funny you should mention Raleigh and Richmond...