Posted on April 2, 2007
The increased mixing of large commercial trucks and small vehicles on Interstate 81 has become a major concern for the Virginia Department of Transportation and those who live in the I-81 corridor.
The amount of truck traffic on this two-lane road has tripled over the past 20 years, according to VDOT, and now Virginia’s longest highway is facing both capacity and safety issues.
Junior Erica Bennetch knows just how unsafe the interstate can get, as she was almost involved in an accident when an 18-wheeler merged into her lane.
“I was so scared and my heart was racing, but later I became angry and annoyed that he didn’t see me,” Bennetch said. “What if there were more cars around? He could have hurt a lot of people.”
In order to combat these problems, VDOT plans to expand I-81 and implement safety measures aimed at trucks. I-81 is one of the top eight truck routes in the United States and one of the top 10 scenic routes in the country, according to VDOT. Because of this dual role, the subject of I-81 expansion has become a contentious battle between those who want to preserve the environmental and historical integrity along the highway and the department of transportation.
Based off of the two-year I-81 Corridor Improvement Study by the department, the governor-appointed Commonwealth Transportation Board announced the approval of both long- and short-term highway improvements last October. Immediate needs for I-81 include the construction of truck-climbing lanes and the extension of on- and off- ramps at interchanges. In addition, the study identified the need for one extra lane in each direction for 37 percent of I-81 and two extra lanes in each direction for the rest of the highway.
For VDOT public affairs manager, Laura Southard, the Commonwealth Transportation Board approval is one step closer to resolving an issue that has been brewing since the early 1990s. She said that over the years VDOT has “heard from all kinds of users who [think] ‘something needs to be done,’” about I-81.
Among them is Bennetch, who uses the highway on a regular basis.
“I strongly support anything that makes driving on the highway with trucks safer,” she said.
However, there is still a long way to go before any kind of construction can begin. Because I-81 is a federal highway, it must meet the standards of the National Environmental Policy Act and be approved by the Federal Highway Administration in a series of steps. The CTB authorization allows VDOT to finalize its Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement and send it to the FHA. Once it is approved, VDOT can begin its Tier 2 Environmental Impact Statement, which addresses specific issues from Tier 1.
“We expect to get approval of the Tier 1 Environmental Study in the next couple of months,” said Southard. She asserted that VDOT is satisfied with their study because “it looks at the whole picture” and the organization has taken great strides to include the study of rail and freight as well as highways in coming to a decision.
Others concerned about the I-81 corridor disagree.
For David Foster, the executive director of RAIL Solution, a grassroots environmental group that encourages the development of railroads instead of highways, CTB’s October announcement was bittersweet. Foster said that while VDOT held hearings on the subject and fielded their complaints, the organization was not listening to them.
“They’ve heard us,” he said “but that’s different from listening.”
The Virginia government initially turned to a private contractor and subsidiary of Halliburton, Inc. called STAR Solutions to conduct a $30 million study of the I-81 corridor. When residents heard the contractor’s proposition of creating an eight- to 12- lane toll road with special truck lanes, they began to mobilize against it.
“The I-81 issue has made a lot of strange bedfellows,” said Foster. Health care advocates, the travel and tourism industry, and environmental and historic preservation activists are a few groups that have joined forces against the expansion of I-81.
After a lot of persistence, they were able to garner an audience with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who not only listened to a proposal for a rail alternative that cost half the price of the highway plan and uses a third less fuel per ton-mile, but also endorsed Virginia House Bill 1581, which requires the government to conduct a comprehensive rail feasibility study for the I-81 corridor.
