Ryan Hanchett - rhanchett@highlandsnews.com
While it didn’t reach the level of a Christmas miracle, motorists in Highlands and surrounding communities were treated to a pleasant surprise on Christmas Eve when NC106 reopened to vehicle traffic following an eight-week closure.
“We were really excited to get the project done and get the road open for everybody before the holiday,” Ryan Bryson, of Bryson Grading said. “I set a lofty goal for my guys when we started the project to have the road open the first week of January, and not only did they meet that goal, they beat it.”
Bryson noted that crews worked long hours in some harsh winter conditions to get the repairs completed. NC106 serves as the main commercial artery from the south and west into Highlands and Cashiers.
“I can’t say enough about my guys, and their families, for staying on site and working til three or four in the morning some nights,” Bryson said. “I also need to thank Ryan Vinson and his crew for all their help and the guys from the DOT that helped us get it done.”
NC106 was compromised during the onslaught brought by Hurricane Helene over two days Sept. 27-28. Initially, only minor damage was seen from the roadway and the NC Department of Transportation reopened the road for one-lane travel after the storm passed.
A closer inspection in the days after Helene showed a major failure below the road surface and necessitated the road being closed completely until repairs could be made. A call for emergency repairs was made by the NCDOT and Bryson’s submitted a proposal. The local company was ultimately awarded the contract and got to work replacing a roughly 90-year-old box culvert under the road surface.
To replace the failed culvert, Bryson’s team installed a more modern piping system to transport runoff under the roadway and down the mountain below.
“Everything went fairly smoothly, despite the fact that we lost one full day due to the weather and there were other days where it was in the teens… we were still out there working,” Bryson said. “We got the okay to reopen the road (Dec. 24). We do have one more layer of paving that needs to go down, but we can’t do that until it’s both dry and above 40 degrees, which is pretty rare for Highlands in January.”
Bryson noted that putting down one additional layer of asphalt will not force a complete closure of the road, but it will be restricted to one lane during the paving.
“We don’t have a date for that yet, depending on the weather, it could be February or even early March,” Bryson said.