WSLS-10 down in Roanoke ran a puff piece last week on the paltry $17 million that Ben Cline “secured” in the federal budget to add a third lane to Interstate 81 in Virginia, which, if we’re lucky, will get us, what, three or four miles of third lane, along the 324.92 miles of I-81 in the Commonwealth?
This is access journalism at its absolute lowest.
Seriously.
Hey, we got Ben Cline here. Should we ask him about the Epstein files?
No, he wants to talk about the $17 million he got for I-81 again.
Anchor Rachel Lewis talked over images of our beloved, congested I-81, which she called “the most dangerous highway here in Virginia,” then dove into a quick soundbite from Kline with these actual words:
“I spoke to Rep. Ben Cline today of the Sixth District, who led the effort to secure that funding for VDOT to add a third lane. Cline said 81 is long overdue for updates.”
Earth to TV anchor: we’re talking, maybe, if we’re lucky, three to four miles of a third lane.
You didn’t see fit to ask Bennie about that?
“81 is on everybody’s mind because it’s such a dangerous road,” said Cline, seated across from Lewis in the middle of our TV screen, quite self-satisfied.
“I mean, it was only built for 15 percent truck traffic back years and years ago, but now it has an estimated 35 percent truck traffic on the weekends. If you hit it the wrong day, the wrong time, it’s 50 percent truck traffic, and could be even higher.”
For three, maybe four miles, because of Cline’s hard work for us in Congress, we’ll have an extra lane to get around all the trucks.
Video: WSLS goes easy on Ben Cline
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Chris Graham
