A stretch of Interstate 40 through the western North Carolina mountains is reopening to traffic this weekend, months after Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding collapsed portions of the road.

With the damaged section of I-40 preparing to partially reopen on Saturday, March 1, the North Carolina Department of Transportation shared updates into the work that has been done and what drivers can expect to be happening in the future.

The four-mile stretch of I-40 on the Tennessee and North Carolina border will reopen to motor traffic Saturday.

The NWS Greenville-Spartanburg SC issued an updated report at 2:21 p.m. on Friday for fire danger until 7 p.m. The alert is for Northern Jackson, Southern Jackson, Caldwell Mountains, Greater Caldwell,

The NWS Blacksburg VA issued a fire weather watch at 1:56 p.m. on Friday in effect until Saturday at 8 p.m. The watch is for Ashe, Alleghany, Surry, Stokes, Rockingham, Caswell, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin counties.

Much of North Carolina will reach “extreme” fire danger levels over the next several days, according to a state tracking tool. The heightened fire risk stretches across most of the state, with more than two-thirds of North Carolina counties in either the “extreme” or “very high” danger levels on Friday,