North Carolina maintains over 18,000 bridges with limited crews and funding, making repairs challenging, especially in rural areas. Geographic factors like coastal erosion and mountain storms worsen conditions. Despite constraints, only 6.8% of rural bridges are in poor condition, and inspectors prioritize safety while balancing budget, staffing and urgent infrastructure needs statewide.
Environment
New Asia Continent to open at the N.C. Zoo this fall
The North Carolina Zoo will open a 12.5-acre Asia Continent this September featuring tigers, Komodo dragons and more. Designed for immersive guest experiences and top-tier animal welfare, the exhibit blends jungle landscapes with architecture. Funded by $152 million in state and private support, it’s expected to boost tourism and conservation awareness.
One year later: The mental impacts of Hurricane Helene
REPORTER 1: Historic, never seen before. These are some of the descriptions of the flooding…
No time to say goodbye: the journey of Valle Crucis School after Hurricane Helene.
Story by Bethany Pryor
Seagrove, NC: The pottery capital of the United States
One of the many pottery stores in Seagrove, N.C. This store is one of the…
Bees, business and the people who keep them: North Carolina’s beekeeping community at work
North Carolina encompasses a wide variety of beekeepers, and each one has a different reason for participating in the business and hobby of beekeeping.
North Carolina’s data center boom is reshaping the state’s energy environment. What now?
Across the state, an increase in electricity demand from data center projects and manufacturing is…
Demand, supply, and design: Organizations encourage North Carolinians to plant native plants
Native plants around the Old Well at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.…
The art of beekeeping: following beekeepers around the Triangle
Story by Ellie Kollme Beekeeping is a complex hobby, one that thousands of people across…
‘The testament is to the fortitude of people of the mountains’: Western North Carolina residents persevere over one year after Hurricane Helene
A family from Western North Carolina continues to recover over one year after Hurricane Helene.