Key route to Chimney Rock and Lake Lure reopens 18 months after Helene
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- U.S. 64 will fully reopen from Hendersonville to Chimney Rock.
- NCDOT used 57,000 tons of rock to rebuild road along Reedy Patch Creek.
- Permanent U.S. 64/74A rebuild runs into late 2028; U.S. 9 still closed at Bat Cave.
For the first time since the remnants of Hurricane Helene ravaged Western North Carolina, U.S. 64 will fully open from Hendersonville through Bat Cave to Chimney Rock on Saturday, restoring a critical route for visitors to the Lake Lure area.
The highway was washed out in many places and has been open to local traffic only between Bat Cave and Hendersonville since the storm in September 2024. The “local traffic only” signs will come down Saturday.
From Hendersonville, U.S. 64 tops the Eastern Continental Divide before descending along Reedy Patch Creek into Bat Cave, where it joins U.S. 74A toward Chimney Rock. To reopen and rebuild the road, NCDOT contractors had to remove dirt that had washed down from the hills above and bring in 57,000 tons of rock to restore and shore up sections that were washed out.
There’s still some work to do to stabilize and rebuild the eastbound lane, which was undermined by the creek. Temporary traffic signals will be used to funnel cars down to one lane until that work is completed, likely by Memorial Day, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Historic rains from Helene turned both the creek and the Rocky Broad River into torrents that ripped away homes, businesses and large sections of U.S. 64 in Hickory Hut Gorge. The U.S. 64 bridge over the river at Bat Cave was still standing after the storm, but the western approach was gone.
NCDOT contractors built a paved temporary road between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock last year. In two places, engineers were forced to reroute the road across the river, using single-lane bridges built with railroad flatcars.
Those narrow bridges will continue to slow traffic for some time. The permanent reconstruction of U.S. 64/74A between Bat Cave and Chimney Rock isn’t expected to be completed until late 2028.
Meanwhile, two roads from the north into Bat Cave remain open to local traffic only.
U.S. 74A, which comes down from Asheville, is still being repaired along Hickory Creek in Gerton. And U.S. 9, which runs between Bat Cave and Black Mountain, remains closed where it was washed out by the Rocky Broad River during Helene.
