Buncombe County seeks $19 million for Swannanoa sidewalks and Helene recovery
Swannanoa could get safer walks to school, bus stops and stores if Buncombe County lands $19 million for sidewalks and Helene recovery. The ask builds on years of planning.
Buncombe County is seeking $19 million for Swannanoa sidewalks and Helene recovery, a proposal that could change whether people can walk safely along the corridor to school, bus stops and stores. If the money comes through, it could fill pedestrian gaps and keep storm-recovery work moving in a community still marked by Helene’s damage.
Tropical Storm Helene struck Western North Carolina on Sept. 27, 2024, and Buncombe County said the storm and flooding caused extraordinary devastation in the county. By Sept. 3, 2025, the county had held its final Helene Community Briefing, the 86th since the storm, a marker of how long recovery has already stretched out. The $19 million request fits into that larger effort, where basic transportation access and rebuilding have become part of the same conversation.
Swannanoa was already on the county’s planning map before the storm. The Buncombe County 2043 Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2023, identified the Swannanoa corridor as one of several areas needing more detailed planning, and the county’s Swannanoa Small Area Plan page says Helene increased the need for a plan for the community’s future growth and recovery. That makes the sidewalk request more than a standalone improvement. It sits in a corridor where residents rely on local routes for daily errands, school trips and connections to transit.
The county has also been building toward pedestrian improvements in smaller steps. On Dec. 8, 2025, Buncombe County said it had been awarded $979,000 from the N.C. Department of Commerce’s Small Business Infrastructure Grant Program for sidewalks in Swannanoa. That award showed outside support for the same kind of work now being folded into a much larger request.
The planning history goes back even further. A 2010 feasibility study for the U.S. 70 and Swannanoa River Greenway tracked transportation and trail connectivity years before Helene, underscoring how long the corridor has needed better links. A March 18, 2025 county letter on a draft CDBG-DR plan after Helene shows the sidewalks proposal is also tied to broader recovery planning, not just to one street or one neighborhood.
For Swannanoa, the stakes are immediate. A funded project could mean safer walking routes and a more resilient corridor; without it, the gaps in pedestrian access and the unfinished recovery work would remain part of everyday life.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
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