SCDOT Chief Operating Officer Rob Perry made it clear that the agency’s mission revolved around a dual priority—restoring access quickly while ensuring that workers were never placed in unsafe conditions.

“The safety of our crews is always the first thing we think about,” Perry said. “If we’re not setting up work zones properly or paying attention to the conditions around our people, we risk more than delays—we risk lives.”

Crews faced a dynamic and unpredictable environment. Many recovery operations took place on narrow, rural two-lane roads with compromised shoulders, debris blockages and unstable slopes.

To address these hazards, SCDOT implemented enhanced safety measures, including mobile lighting for night operations, high-visibility equipment and increased deployment of temporary traffic control devices.

“We placed a lot of emphasis on making sure work zones were clearly marked, even in the most rural and low-visibility areas,” Perry said. “Even when we were racing the clock to reopen access, we weren’t cutting corners on safety.”

Another vital component of SCDOT’s safety strategy involved staff rotations and monitoring worker fatigue. Long shifts in high-stress conditions can erode judgment and increase the risk of injury.

Perry said that SCDOT directed field supervisors to strictly enforce rest periods and bring in reinforcements from other regions when needed.

“The storms might not wait, but that doesn’t mean we let our people push themselves beyond safe limits,” he said.

Coordination was another pillar of safe recovery. SCDOT worked in close concert with emergency responders and local law enforcement to keep the public informed about detours, closures and ongoing repairs. This protected crews working in the field and ensured that motorists weren’t navigating through damaged infrastructure unaware of the risks.

In the aftermath of Helene, SCDOT also began reassessing its own practices, using the storm’s impact as a case study for further resilience planning. This includes integrating new flood modeling tools and expanding pre-storm safety checklists to cover more vulnerable routes and at-risk worker situations.

“A storm like Helene teaches you hard lessons fast. But if we can take those lessons and turn them into long-term improvements—both in how we build and how we protect the people who build—it’s worth it,” Perry said.

Tennessee

For Steve Borden, Region 1 director at the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), Hurricane Helene represented the most severe natural disaster of his 34-year career.

“You’re going to go back hundreds of years to see a disaster of this magnitude,” he said.

The storm carved a path of destruction through East Tennessee, inundating the Nolichucky River basin and destroying bridges, roadways and entire communities. In total, 49 state routes were taken out of service, 14 bridges were closed and five were completely washed away.

Despite the scale of destruction and the urgency to reconnect isolated towns, TDOT never lost sight of its most critical objective: keeping its workers and the traveling public safe.

“Safety is not a program—it’s a culture,” Borden said. “We turned that corner years ago, and it made all the difference.”

During the first 100 hours of the storm response—what Borden calls the “golden hours”—TDOT had more than 400 personnel on the ground. Emergency responders cleared debris, inspecting damaged bridges, rerouting traffic and even assisting in rescues.

In one instance, Borden noted, TDOT crews spotted a stranded driver in a rapidly flooding car on Interstate-26 and waded through waist-deep water to pull him to safety.

“That man told us his car was all he had,” Borden said. “Our crew got him out, pushed the car to dry ground, and minutes later, the entire roadway was gone.”

Even amid these high-stress, high-risk operations, TDOT’s crews logged more than 90,000 man-hours during those first critical days with zero accidents or incidents. Borden attributes that record to more than just training, it came from a culture of mutual respect, experience and strong internal support systems.

“We held stand-downs when we needed to. We pulled crews off the road for rest when the stress got too high,” he said. “Safety isn’t about just wearing a vest—it’s about caring for people physically and emotionally.”

This approach was supported by TDOT’s pre-established Strike Force units—multi-disciplinary teams that train together annually through a series of safety-focused exercises, including mock emergency scenarios, confined space operations and large-scale debris removal simulations.

“When the crews from Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga showed up to help East Tennessee, they already knew each other,” Borden said. “They knew how each other worked. That familiarity is priceless during a crisis.”

Even temporary work zones were treated with long-term care. Every site, even in rural mountain hollows, was assessed for safe access, appropriate signage and crew protection.

As restoration continued, especially on major highways like I-26 and Interstate 40, TDOT employed real-time monitoring, nighttime lighting and lane management strategies to protect workers while minimizing delays for the public.

Safety extended beyond the job site, too. Borden said many TDOT workers, including those who had lost homes or suffered personal losses, were back on the job within days.

“That’s the kind of heart these teams have. But we made sure they had what they needed to be okay—physically and mentally—before asking them to go back into the field.”

Virginia 

Virginia’s Bristol District also saw the most widespread devastation from the remnants of Hurricane Helene.

“The most significant damage was experienced in Washington, Smyth, and Grayson counties,” said Tabitha Crowder, P.E., Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Bristol District Engineer.

Over 500 roads were blocked by debris or water, and 50 bridges were damaged, many pushed from their foundations.

Among the hardest hit was State Route 58 between Damascus and Konnarock, a corridor vital to local tourism and the Virginia Creeper Trail. Emergency contracts were activated immediately to restore roadway access, and bridge repairs began within days.

In Taylors Valley, the storm washed away roadways leading to two critical bridges on State Route 725. The area was more than scenic—it was essential to the region’s water supply. VDOT’s rapid installation of a temporary bridge—delivered from Staunton District and installed by a cross-district team—restored access within five days.

"It was 30 hours from beginning the bridge installation to having water service restoration in motion," Crowder said.

Coordination was key. VDOT worked together with local emergency responders and law enforcement, establishing a command presence in Damascus through the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. Highway Equipment Response Teams (HERT) from across the state bolstered local crews, and staff worked in 12-hour shifts to ensure safe and sustainable progress.

Crowder emphasized that resilience is now baked into the state’s infrastructure planning.

“VDOT’s Resilience Plan, issued in 2022, provides a framework for incorporating resilience across the agency—from planning to operations,” she said.

The plan continues to identify vulnerable assets and implement adaptive designs that account for the unpredictable nature of future storms.

The road to recovery is not just about clearing paths. It's about ensuring those paths can endure what comes next.

Florida

Florida entered the storm season with a foundation already laid for resilience, said Will N. Watts, Jr., P.E., FDOT assistant secretary of engineering and operations.

“Safety is the top priority of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), and we have long made the strength of our infrastructure a priority as we build resilience into every project we undertake,” he said.

That emphasis on strong construction paid off. FDOT did not lose any critical infrastructure during Hurricanes Helene or Debby, thanks to robust standards designed to withstand extreme wind, water and surge.

But the challenges with these storms weren’t absent. When high winds and rising waters forced the closure of Tampa Bay’s four major bridges—including the Sunshine Skyway and Howard Frankland—FDOT immediately deployed crews for debris removal and emergency repairs.

Each bridge was reopened within 24 hours, a testament to preparation and rapid execution. When the region faced another hit from Hurricane Milton shortly after, FDOT repeated this feat.

“Had Hurricane Milton made landfall with that much debris uncollected, damage to the community could have been much worse,” Watts said.

FDOT’s emergency rebuild of the Sanibel Causeway after Hurricane Ian became a national model. What began as an urgent response evolved into the state’s first Phased-Design Build contract.

Today, the agency is pushing even further with its Modified Phased Design-Build approach—applied now on major projects like Interstate 4 as part of the Moving Florida Forward Infrastructure Initiative.

“We’ve taken an innovation developed during an emergency, improved upon it, and made it part of our toolbox,” Watts said.

A Stronger South

From the coastal crossings of Florida to the mountain valleys of Tennessee and Virginia, and the inland roads of South Carolina, the recovery from Hurricanes Helene and Debby was marked by one common theme: readiness forged through partnership and a relentless commitment to safety.

“We’re grateful for our state and local partners who respond alongside us,” said Watts. “It is a team effort, and we will always do what it takes to deliver for Florida.

Across all four states, that team effort is ongoing—not just to restore what was lost, but to prepare for what’s next. The storms may pass, but the resolve to build safer, more resilient infrastructure remains.