RALEIGH – The N.C. Department of Transportation worked hard in 2025 to deliver on its many projects and services while prioritizing the recovery from the most destructive storm in state history.
Editor's Note
Hurricane Helene damaged more than 9,400 locations on state-maintained roads at the end of September 2024, including nearly 850 bridges and more than 2,000 pipes and culverts.
Since then, NCDOT completed work on more than 7,300 damaged sites. Crews and contractors repaired or replaced more than 560 bridges, including the replacement of the bridge in McDowell County that serves a neighborhood and the largest manufacturer of IV fluids in the United States — Baxter Healthcare.
Efforts Honored
The department, along with Governor Josh Stein and federal, state and local leaders marked one year since the storm devastated western North Carolina with an event alongside Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge. At the event, federal partners announced the state would receive $1.15 billion in additional funding for Helene – the single largest allocation awarded to a state through the Emergency Relief program.
While recovery continued in the west, other parts of the state were hit by storms throughout the year, including snow in the east and systems like Chantal dropping extreme rainfall in central North Carolina.
Employees were better equipped to respond to storms with tools like NCDOT’s flood warning system. This enabled the department to pre-position Incident Management Assistance Patrol crews in locations where it was believed they helped save lives.
The department received honors for those efforts and others, like the agency’s Hurricane Helene recovery operations and the Turnpike Authority’s work on the Complete 540 project.
In 2025, NCDOT awarded about 500 contracts worth more than $3.1 billion in construction and maintenance projects.
Open for Business
The department reached milestones on several major projects, including I-26 widening in Henderson County, I-440 widening in Wake County, updating a portion of U.S. 70 to interstate standards in Johnston County, opening of the new Rockingham Bypass in Richmond County and Havelock Bypass in Craven County, and the completion of the final segment of the I-295 outer loop in Fayetteville.
NCDOT also showcased the importance of road safety by hosting the National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week event.
In 2025, NCDOT and its partners made it a priority to recognize 23 fallen law enforcement officers by dedicating state roads and bridges in their honor.
Rockingham Speedway also saw the return of NASCAR last year, and NC By Train helped people get there. The state’s intercity rail service also celebrated decades of passenger rail service. In 2025, NC By Train experienced continued growth in ridership and surpassed a single-month record with more than 74,000 passengers in October.
The Integrated Mobility Division relaunched the bus service in Asheville nearly a year after Hurricane Helene and launched an additional transit service in Chapel Hill.
During the Ferry Division’s 2025 season, more than 18,000 people rode the Ocracoke Express passenger ferry, marking the service’s highest ridership since 2022.
New Leadership
Paul Tine now leads the Division of Motor of Vehicles as commissioner. In 2025, the DMV moved hundreds of thousands of transactions online and hired and trained more than 200 examiners.
NCDOT and partners hosted the annual North Carolina Transportation Summit in September, which was one of Joey Hopkins’ last events as Secretary of Transportation. He retired after serving 35 years at NCDOT.
Daniel Johnson was appointed to the role in the fall.
Looking ahead, Secretary Johnson has several priorities, including improvements at the DMV, enhancing safety for the public and NCDOT employees, and continuing to recover from Hurricane Helene.
NCDOT looks forward to a more resilient 2026 while continuing to carry out the mission of connecting people, products and places safely and efficiently.