Senator Tim Kaine visits Damascus to assess recovery efforts on Virginia Creeper Trail

The Virginia Creeper Trail in Damascus where almost 6 months ago, Helene completely destroyed portions of it. Town leaders are in the process of discussing recovery efforts to get the trail, back on track.

On this day, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine and agencies which included VDOT and the U.S. Forest Service, along with Damascus town leaders gathered.

Senator Tim Kaine was last in Damascus in October.

Right after Helene, I toured through downtown, it was a stunner, I mean seeing the extent of damage,, said U.S. Senator of Virginia, Tim Kaine.

And now he is back nearly 6 months after Helene hit our region, to see the recovery efforts in action.

What I saw today was dramatic improvement in the downtown area, dramatic work to clear debris, and I saw today what I haven't seen before because I couldn't get up there before was the damage to the trail up Route 58 along the creeper, but how much work has been done, said Kaine.

Kaine's mission for Friday was to make sure the dollars are flowing. According to a press release, Kaine voted to pass legislation that brought more than $46 million to Virginia for relief efforts.

That was the main question I had today, are they flowing or do I need to do more to help them. We heard good news from the forest and state and the dollars are there and available and as they are doing work they are pulling the dollars down, said Kaine.

With this community relying on the trail and the tourism dollars it brings in.

Senator Kaine got federal approval for $660 million in funding.

The $660 million was for the forest service, not just for the creeper trail because they have lots of things as you can imagine to take care of. The funds have been allocated and so now we just need to get them released so we can get this thing rebuilt, said Lamb.

And while the goal is to get the trail back up and running, the town of Damascus is staying strong.

We’re gonna be better than we've ever been, I know that from the bottom of my heart, we are resilient people and we love our tourists and we love our visitors, said Lamb.

Kaine said Route 58 is expected to reopen by May, which he says is the key to beginning the rebuild of the Virginia Creeper Trail because without 58 open, you don’t even have access to parts of the trail.