Remember when the mainstream media had a collective meltdown over Trump nominating Sean Duffy as Transportation Secretary? They couldn't stop mocking him as just a reality TV star who had no business running a federal department. Well, guess what? Duffy has just humiliated his predecessor Pete Buttigieg by doing something "Mayor Pete" never managed to do during his tenure: delivering results.
Interstate 40 in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee has reopened to traffic five months after Hurricane Helene devastated the region in late September. This crucial commercial artery connecting Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill with Nashville and points west suffered catastrophic damage, with a 43-mile section heavily impacted and 12 miles completely obliterated
The reopening represents a stunning rebuke to Buttigieg's dire prediction that fixing I-40 would "take billions of dollars and months, if not years." Instead, the Trump administration delivered in a fraction of the time the Biden team claimed was necessary.
🚨#BREAKING: The I-40 highway in #WNC which crumbled into the river during Hurricane Helene and has been closed for 5 months…
— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) March 1, 2025
…has officially reopened!
DOT Secretary Sean Duffy allowed rock to be pulled from the river to rebuild 3X faster and cheaper. pic.twitter.com/sGm9PIwgc2
There is still work to be done, and the once four-lane highway is currently only two, but it is functional again.
The contrast between the administrations couldn't be more stark. The Biden-Harris response to Hurricane Helene was nothing short of disgraceful. It took over a week to even acknowledge the disaster had occurred, and FEMA's response was equally abysmal. Even more outrageous? FEMA forced hurricane-displaced North Carolina families out of hotels after brief stays while simultaneously spending tens of millions housing illegal migrants in hotels across New York and other blue cities. It's as if they were punishing Americans for living in the wrong part of the country.
Flashback: Does the Media Know the Failed Hurricane Response Is Intentional?
Many saw the deliberately slow pace of hurricane relief in North Carolina under the Biden administration as politically motivated — part of a broader strategy to flip the state from purple to bright blue in what was expected to be a tight race in a battleground state.
Enter Sean Duffy and the Trump administration, who immediately prioritized helping these forgotten Americans. When Secretary Duffy visited the region in February, he didn't just offer empty platitudes — he delivered solutions.
"President Trump directed me to build infrastructure faster, better, and more affordably," Duffy explained during a recent visit. He quickly identified ways to slash both costs and construction time, securing a "Special Use" permit with the Forest Service to source construction materials locally.
This common-sense approach allows the North Carolina DOT to extract materials from a nearby river just a couple miles away, rather than hauling them in from 20-50 miles away. The simple change reduced the project timeline and costs by nearly two-thirds compared to the Biden administration's estimates.
"Too often, the federal government creates obstacles that slow recovery and drive up costs," Duffy noted. "This time, we're cutting through those burdensome barriers to get the job done."
In addition to being only two lanes for the moment, the newly reopened road does have some restrictions, but for the devastated communities and businesses along I-40, having a functioning highway is a lifeline. Unlike "Mayor Pete," who specialized in excuses and delays, Duffy has proven that competent leadership can deliver when Americans need it most.
Another Trump administration promise kept — and another set of headlines the mainstream media will conveniently ignore.
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