It’s going to be a while before Appalachia is back to normal following Hurricane Helene. Crucial roads are still closed, forcing drivers to find alternate routes that bypass the wreckage. This complicates daily operations, not only for residents on their way to work but also for truck drivers attempting to haul freight across the area. But locals and volunteers in Northeastern Tennessee have come up with a genius fix for one of the many downed bridges: Just build a new one out of semi trailers.
Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby captured some quick drone footage of the temporary infrastructure and posted it to his YouTube channel. In the video are three flatbed trailers placed parallel to the stream with what looks like a two-wide row of trailer decks mounted on top connecting two stretches of gravel. And while it probably wouldn’t be wise to drive a loaded big rig across, it looks plenty stable for the pickup truck in the clip.
I haven’t been able to find out how they got the trailers there, but my guess is they were put in position by a crane. The water is still up and moving pretty swiftly, so I doubt they were dropped there by semi-trucks. Either way, it’s one of the most resourceful fixes I’ve seen among many as there have been several social media posts showing locals with heavy equipment repairing roads before the state DOT could.
This large-scale MacGyver repair is near the Poga area of Tennessee, just west of the North Carolina border. Like so many other examples we’ve seen on national news since the devastating storm, it’s super rural and remote. While this obviously isn’t a freeway or even a two-lane highway, routes like these remain critical as people need to get from one town to the next. Locals still need supplies, whether it be food, building materials, or what have you, and when there’s only one way in and out of town, you do all you can to keep it open. That’s what these folks are doing, seemingly independent of the state or federal government.
Meanwhile, sections of Interstate 40 running east and west across Tennessee remain closed, causing massive headaches for truckers. Some have tried taking longer routes that wind through small towns but they end up stuck with no quick way out. Others have been caught re-routing through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which doesn’t allow 18-wheelers.
It’s hard out there and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. But when left to their own devices, people in communities like these will find a way to make it happen.
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